DHAKA: Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina today inducted three new faces in her council of ministers and promoted two junior ministers as cabinet members in the first major cabinet shake-up since the swearing-in of her government for the second consecutive tenure last year.
President Abdul Hamid administered the oath of office to all the five at Bangabhaban presidential palace at a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister and her senior cabinet colleagues.
A veteran leader of the ruling party, Nurul Islam was sworn in as a cabinet minister while Awami League lawmakers Tarana Halim and Nuruzzaman Khan took the oath as state ministers.
State minister for Home Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal and for Science and Technology Yafes Osman became full ministers in the ceremony. The cabinet division was yet to make any announcement about the portfolios of the new minister and the junior ministers.
This was the second induction since February 26 when AH Mahmood Ali was inducted as the foreign minister and Nazrul Islam as the state minister for local government.
The development came five days after Hasina in a surprise move relieved Awami League's general secretary and trusted lieutenant Syed Ashraful Islam of his portfolio as local government minister but kept him in the cabinet as a minister without portfolio.
Earlier on October 12, 2014, the President sacked Telecommunications Minister Latif Siddiqui while the ruling party stripped him off his position as the party's presidium member for his derogatory remarks about Islam.