4 technocrat ministers join today’s cabinet meeting

All the four technocrat ministers, who resigned a week ago as per instruction from the prime minister, have joined today’s cabinet meeting.

The weekly cabinet meeting began at Bangladesh Secretariat with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair began at 10:00am, sources said.

Religious affairs minister Matiur Rahman, expatriate welfare and overseas employment minister Nurul Islam BSc, science and technology minister Yeafesh Osman and telecommunications and information technology minister Mustafa Jabbar submitted their resignation letter to the Cabinet Division on November 6.

Although they tendered their resignation letters, no gazette notification was issued accepting their resignation. In this situation, they were instructed to carry out their duties until their resignation letters were accepted.

The Hasina-led incumbent cabinet is comprised of 34 ministers, 17 state ministers and two deputy ministers, and four of them are technocrats. Besides, PM's seven advisers and one special envoy enjoy minister's status.

On October 22, she hinted at not making the polls-time cabinet smaller, saying she preferred not to downsize it for the sake of completing the ongoing crucial development projects.

Sources said that in place of the four technocrat ministers, the same number of lawmakers could be included in the polls-time government as ministers. Of them, two to three might be from the main opposition Jatiya Party, they said.

Source: thedailystar