Seven New State Ministers Pay Tribute To Bangabandhu

The seven new members of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's cabinet have paid their tribute to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman a day after taking their oath of office. It’s reported that the newly-appointed state ministers placed a wreath at the Father of the Nation's mural in the capital's Dhanmondi at 10 am on Saturday. 

The new state ministers are Shamsun Naher Chapa, Waseqa Ayesha Khan, Rokeya Sultana, Nahid Izhar Khan, Nazrul Islam Chowdhury, Md Shahiduzzaman Sarker and Md Abdul Wadud.

The Cabinet Division issued a notice on their new offices immediately after they were sworn in by President Mohammed Shahabuddin at a Bangabhaban ceremony in presence of Hasina.

Waseqa, the finance and planning secretary of the Awami League who is serving her third straight term as a reserved seat MP, has been made the state minister for finance. She is the daughter of late Ataur Rahman Khan Kaiser, a leading organiser of the Liberation War and a prominent leader of the Awami League.

Fresh off winning the Naogaon-2 election, Shahiduzzaman has been pressed into the cabinet as the state minister for planning. Wadud from Rajshahi-5, who had previously served as a member of the parliamentary standing committee on the food ministry, will work as the state minister for local government and rural development.

Rokeya, another reserved seat MP serving as the ruling party's health and population affairs secretary, has become the state minister for health and family planning. Chapa, the education and human resources secretary of the Awami League, wil serve as the state minister for education.

Nahid Izhar, daughter of Liberation War hero Col Khandkar Nazmul Huda, Bir Bikram, has got the cultural affairs ministry. In his cabinet debut, Chattogram-14 MP and freedom fighter Nazrul landed the charge of the labour and employment ministry as the state minister.

The cultural affairs ministry and the labour and employment ministry have so far been under Hasina. She still holds the responsibilities of the Cabinet Division, defence ministry, the Armed Forces Division and the power, energy and mineral resources ministry.

With the new additions, the cabinet now consists of 25 full ministers and 18 state ministers, while there are no positions for deputy ministers.