& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

Confusion runs high

Govt yet to notify size of polls-time cabinet

M Abul Kalam Azad and Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee
Cabinet Division officials yesterday waited beyond their office hours for government orders to publish the gazette notifications allocating portfolios of the newly sworn-in ministers. But no orders came till 8:20pm and they left their offices without doing so.
The much-expected notifications were also to clarify how many of the 52-member cabinet would be dropped, and how many of them would be in the polls-time administration.
FROM PAGE 1
Officials could not confirm if the process would be completed today.
Cabinet Division officials and Awami League leaders said the portfolios of the new ministers and the names of the rest of the election-time cabinet members were finalised on Monday night.
Cabinet Secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan had confirmed on Monday night that gazettes would be issued on Tuesday allocating portfolios to the cabinet members.
He also said the PM would hand over the resignation letters of the outgoing ministers to the president.
Speculation ran high among the ministers yesterday as the cabinet secretary had hinted that there was a "surprise" in store forTuesday.
Behind the scene political developments, possible induction of more members in the polls-time cabinet and strong lobbying by some new ministers for lucrative portfolios were the main reasons for the delay in this regard.
"Everything was finalised on Monday night and the gazettes were supposed to be issued at 3:00pm today [yesterday]. But the matter was delayed due to some changes to the ministers' portfolios and to possible inclusion of new members in the cabinet," a senior Cabinet Division official told The Daily Star last night.
He said instructions were there to issue gazettes in the afternoon so that Dipu Moni could see off the Malaysian prime minister as foreign minister at 2:00pm.
"But no signal in this regard came even after 3:00pm perhaps because of BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia's meeting with the president at the
Bangabhaban at 6:30pm and its outcome," said another official, requesting anonymity.
There were speculations at the secretariat that the gazettes would be issued once Hasina flew back to the capital from Patuakhali in the evening. Unconfirmed reports also suggested that 10-15 members of the AL-led grand alliance be in the election-time cabinet. Of them, two technocrat ministers - Law Minister Shafique Ahmed and Industries Minister Dilip Barua - may also remain, although not as ministers but the PM's advisers.
In another sign of confusion, during the I louse proceeding yesterday names of ministers were not mentioned in the questionanswer papers, which is unprecedented.
"Names of the ministers were not mentioned as portfolios of the election-time cabinet members were supposed to be distributed by the time," said an official at the Parliament Secretariat.
Amid all these confusions, several ministers bade farewell to secretariat officials. They include Food Ministers Abdur Razzaque and Cultural Affairs Minister Abul Kalam Azad.
Sources at the Gono Bhaban said several ministers during the last two days met the PM and sought her blessings to continue in the cabinet.
On Monday, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inducted eight new members into her cabinet as she began forming the polls-time government. But none went to the secretariat, as they did not get their portfolios.
Some senior cabinet division officials went to the Gono Bhaban last night, apparently to discuss the matter with the PM and other government policy makers.