Ministers resign to form all-party cabinet

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina receives resignation letters from ministers and state ministers at the Secretariat in the capital on Monday. Photo: BSS

All the 52 ministers and state ministers completed submitting their resignation today to pave the way for formation of an all-party interim cabinet to oversee the next parliamentary polls. The prime minister however has yet to accept any of their resignation. "The ministers whose resignation will not be accepted by the PM will continue with their portfolio," Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters while briefing on a regular cabinet meeting today where a number of ministers and state ministers submitted their resignation. Beginning last Thursday, the process of offering the resignation continued till today's regular cabinet meeting, where those who did not submit their resignation did so in presence of the PM. The interim cabinet will have some new members, the secretary said. The other resignation letters will be sent to the president for next course of action, he said. "The whole process will be completed soon," Bhuiyan said. Meanwhile, talking to reporters at the Secretariat, Information Minister Hasanul Haq Inu said there is no bar for a minister to continue his office work until the resignation letters are accepted. The resignation process started Thursday with at least 20 cabinet members including four senior and influential ministers resigning in response to the call of PM Sheikh Hasina for so. On November 4, the premier called on her cabinet colleagues to resign so that she could form an election-time cabinet by the middle of this month. State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Capt (retd) AB Tajul Islam first submitted his resignation letter. Finance Minister AMA Muhith told the journalists at his Secretariat office yesterday that he had already submitted his resignation letter.