Quader gets Abul's job

In a major reshuffle in the cabinet, the government yesterday replaced Syed Abul Hossain with newly sworn in Obaidul Quader as the communications minister.
Abul Hossain will now head the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) splitting the Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technology with State Minister Yeafesh Osman. Yeafesh will lead the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Veteran Awami League leader Suranjit Sengupta has been given the charge of the Ministry of Railways, which used to be a wing of the communications ministry till Sunday. This is the first time he became a minister.
Earlier Suranjit was the parliamentary affairs adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina with the status of a minister while Obaidul Quader had been a state minister in Hasina's first cabinet.
In another significant change, Commerce Minister Mohammad Faruk Khan and Civil Aviation and Tourism Minister GM Quader swapped their portfolios.
Yesterday's move came amid an outcry for a change in Hasina's relatively inexperienced cabinet that has been damaging her party's image. Various quarters have been demanding removal of the ministers who became unpopular for their inefficiency or controversial activities.
There had also been a demand from within the Awami League for inducting some experienced politicians who were kept aside when Hasina formed her cabinet with 31 members -- 23 ministers and eight state ministers -- after the landslide victory in the 2008 general elections.
Syed Abul Hossain drew huge flak after the World Bank (WB) brought corruption allegation against him and suspended its $ 1.2 billion loan for the $ 2.9 billion Padma Bridge three months ago. His failure in repairing and maintaining the country's roads and highways also seem to have contributed to his losing the charge of the communications ministry.
Thrown in an awkward situation by WB's fund suspension, some government officials insisted in vain that it would not be a problem to manage the fund from alternative sources and that they would be able to convince the WB that no corruption had taken place in the bridge project. However, the government is yet to be successful in either of the two schemes.
With Abul's removal, many now think that the main barrier in the Padma Bridge construction has been eliminated.
Meanwhile, former commerce minister Faruk Khan earned strong criticism of the people for failing to rein in the skyrocketing prices of commodities which caused tremendous sufferings, especially to the low-income people.
GM Quader, a lawmaker from Jatiya Party, will now deal with the politically sensitive issue of commodity prices. He has been undergoing through an uncomfortable relationship for quite some time between his ministry and the authorities of the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines.
At the fag end of the government's third year in power, the PM expanded her cabinet on November 28 by incorporating two party stalwarts Suranjit Sengupta and Obaidul Quader as full ministers. The status of state minister for environment and forest Hasan Mahmud was also upgraded to that of a minister.
The number of ministries has now risen to 39 while the number of ministers and state ministers to 48.
Well-placed sources in the ruling party said the government is planning to split few more ministries to incorporate new faces in Hasina's cabinet. The PM will take final decision in this regard on her return from Myanmar.