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Reshuffle sheds 7 ministers

Portfolios of 11 changed, BJP and IOJ left in the cold

STAFF CORRESPONDENT
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia yesterday dropped seven ministers and changed portfolios of another 11 in the first major reshuffle of the council of 60 ministers.
With the resignation of three cabinet ministers and four state ministers, the council has been trimmed to a 53-member body. Yesterday's shake-up also reallocated portfolios of three cabinet ministers, five state ministers and three deputy ministers.
The prime minister did not include any new face in the cabinet, although speculations were rife that some BNP stalwarts and leaders of the two alliance partners -- the Bangladesh Jatiya Party and the Islami Oikya Jote -- would come in.
However, Khaleda did not change the status of any ministers
whose portfolios have been changed. On March 11 last year, she brought minor changes to portfolios of four ministers.
The three ministers, dropped from the cabinet, are Water Resources Minister Engineer LK Siddiqi, Fisheries and Livestock Minister Sadeque Hossain Khoka and Minister without portfolio Harunar Rashid Khan Monno.
The four state ministers the
prime minister shed are State Minister for Commerce Barkatullah Bulu, State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Ebadur Rahman Chowdhury, State Minister for Post and Telecommunications Ahsanul Haque Mollah and State Minister for Liberation War Affairs Redwan Ahmed.
Barkatullah Bulu was appointed advisor to the commerce ministry
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with rank and status of state minister.
According to the reshuffle, MK Anwar, who was the industries minister, was awarded the agriculture portfolio and Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Matiur Rahman Nizami was sent from the agriculture ministry to the industries ministry. Hafizuddin Ahmed was removed from the jute ministry to the water resources portfolio.
State Minister Lutfor Rahman Khan Azad was transferred to the jute portfolio from labour and manpower. Amanullah Aman, who was state minister for health, took charge of labour and manpower, and State Minister Rezaul Karim was sent to the liberation war affairs portfolio from industries.
Ukil Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan, who was state minister for land, took charge of the fisheries and livestock portfolio, and State Minister Mizanur Rahman Sinha was transferred to the health and family welfare ministry from textile.
Deputy Minister Asadul Habib (Dulu) was sent to the disaster management and relief ministry from communications, Deputy Minister Ruhul Quddus Talukder (Dulu) to the land ministry from LGRD and cooperatives and Deputy Minister Abdus Salam Pintu to the industries ministry from education.
Yesterday's reshuffle came as a near-surprise, said sources. The prime minister, who had been in her Bangladesh Secretariat office yesterday, asked the cabinet secretary almost off-guard to prepare the notification and papers for reshuffle.
The reshuffle took place when some senior ministers like M Saifur Rahman, Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan, Dr Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain and Tariqul Islam were off to official programmes outside Dhaka.
The changes ended all speculations of leaders and workers of the ruling BNP about reshuffle. There was also tremendous pressure from donors and the party as well to downsize the jumbo cabinet.
Many frontline leaders say that the council of ministers should have been downsized more and that it should not have more than 40 to 45 members.
Mayor Sadeque Hossain Khoka apart, six others were dropped from the council largely because of their inefficiency, said the BNP insiders. Khoka wanted to resign from the cabinet before the 2002 mayoral polls.
Sources inside the government said although the prime minister had taken resignation letters from around 16 ministers and state ministers in the middle of last year, finally seven of them have been dropped. The others survived because of strong lobbying on their behalf within the BNP.
Several BNP leaders and leaders from two other components of the alliance -- BJP and IOJ-- who were ready to take oath felt frustrated that none of them was inducted into the council of ministers.
Talking to The Daily Star last night, one of the seven dropped from the council of minister said actually he has been 'politically buried'. It would now be too difficult for him to do politics in his constituency and district because his rivals might campaign that he was removed due to corruption.
"I don't know why I was made a minister and on which ground I have been removed. I am now politically dead in my area. I never tried to be a minister and even did not know anything about making me a minister till the formation of the government," he added.
Some ministers and state ministers, whose portfolios have been
changed, are also unhappy that they have not got 'important' ones. Jamaat chief Matiur Rahman Nizami is known to be among them.
Jamaat sources said in these days of market economy, industries ministry is 'less important'. However, BNP insiders said Nizami was removed from agriculture ministry as he did not perform well.
Sources close to Amanullah Aman (who was state minister for health) said although he has been given charge of the labour and manpower ministry, this ministry does not have any important function since the formation of the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment.
Deputy Minister Ruhul Quddus Talukder is also not happy to get the portfolio of land and to share authority with the incumbent land minister. He was happy with his previous position in the LGRD ministry because Abdul Mannan Bhuiyan had given him enough authority in the ministry, sources mentioned.
Although Abdus Salam Pintu has been removed from the position of deputy minister for education, he is happy that despite being on the removal list he has not been dropped
Cabinet ministers Major (Retd) Hafizuddin Ahmed and MK Anwar, state ministers Lutfor Rahman Khan Azad, Rezaul Karim, Abdus Sattar Bhuiyan, Mizanur Rahman Sinha and deputy ministers Ahsan Habib are quite happy with their new portfolios.