Staff Correspondent

With 25 ministers and 11 state ministers, the Awami League (AL) is going to form the new cabinet of 37 members, who will take oath at 7:00pm at Bangabhaban in Dhaka on Thursday.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain announced the names of the new cabinet members at a press conference at the secretariat on Wednesday.

Among the current cabinet members, Liberation War Affairs Minister AKM Mozammel Huq, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan, Education Minister Dipu Moni, Local Government Minister Md Tazul Islam, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Information and Broadcasting Minister Hasan Mahmud, Food Minister Sadhan Chandra Majumder, Deputy Minister of Education Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury, State Minister for Public Administration Farhad Hossain, and State Minister for Religious Affairs Md Faridul Haque Khan will take oath as ministers.

Former foreign minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, Awami League presidium members Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman, former ministers Narayan Chandra Chand and Muhammad Faruk Khan, former chief whip Md Abdus Shahid, Bangladesh Cricket Board President Nazmul Hassan, former state minister Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Rajbari district Awami League unit President Md Zillul Hakim, Mymensingh-9 MP Abdus Salam, and Brahmanbaria district Awami League unit President RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury are also becoming ministers.

Twenty-nine ministers, state ministers, and deputy ministers of the current 47-member cabinet were not included in the new one. On 7 January 2019, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina formed the current 47-member cabinet with 24 ministers, 19 state ministers, and three deputy ministers. Among them were two technocrat ministers and a minister of state.

Two technocrats – architect Yeafesh Osman and physician Samanta Lal Sen – are going to be sworn in as ministers in the new cabinet.

Among former state ministers, Nasrul Hamid, state minister for power, energy and mineral resources; Zunaid Ahmed Palak, state minister for ICT; Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury, state minister for shipping; and Zaheed Farooque, state minister for water resources; are going to take oath as state ministers.

Gazipur-4 MP Simeen Hussain (Rimi), Dhaka-17 MP Mohammad Ali Arafat, Patuakhali-4 MP Md Mohibbur Rahman, Khagrachari MP Kujendra Lal Tripura, Gazipur-3 MP Rumana Ali, Sylhet-2 MP Shofiqur Rahman Choudhury, and Tangail-6 MP Ahasanul Islam Titu will be state ministers for the first time.

The cabinet secretary said the current cabinet would be dissolved when the new one takes oath. “After the new cabinet members are sworn in, the prime minister will distribute the portfolios among them.”

The current cabinet members who have been dropped are Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, AHM Mustafa Kamal, AK Abdul Momen, MA Mannan, Golam Dastagir Gazi, Zahid Maleque, Tipu Munshi, Nuruzzaman Ahmed, SM Rezaul Karim, Md Shahab Uddin, Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing, Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Md Nurul Islam Sujan, Imran Ahmad, Kamal Ahmed Mojumder, Md Zahid Ahsan Russel, Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, Begum Monnuzan Sufian, Md Zakir Hossen, Md Shahriar Alam, Shwapan Bhattacharjee, Sharif Ahmed, KM Khalid, Md Enamur Rahman, Md Mahbub Ali, Fazilatun Nessa, Shamsul Alam, Habibun Nahar, and AKM Enamul Haque Shamim.

Earlier on Wednesday, Awami League President Sheikh Hasina was appointed as the prime minister for the fourth consecutive term as her party had secured a landslide victory in the 12th parliamentary election.

A Cabinet Division gazette said according to clause (3) of Article 56 of the Constitution, President Mohammed Shahabuddin appointed Sheikh Hasina as the new prime minister and gave his consent to form the cabinet under her leadership.

The president in a meeting with Hasina invited her to form the cabinet as the leader of the majority members of the 12th parliament.

Cabinet Secretary Md Mahbub Hossain will conduct the new ministers' oath-taking ceremony at Durbar Hall of Bangabhaban.