New telecom minister in bangladesh-Shahara Khatun

In a major reshuffle in the cabinet, the Prime Minister has replaced the Home Minister and given the task of maintaining law and order to Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir, a former bureaucrat and one of the ruling party's policymakers. In the face of severe criticism from the media, she also replaced the Information Minister and given the charge to JSD President Hasanul Haq Inu, who never served in any cabinet. However, Hasina relied on elderly Abul Maal Abdul Muhith to run the finance despite scathing criticism from a section of media over different issues. Offices of several serving ministers were also changed in the latest reshuffle, Cabinet Secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told bdnews24.com Saturday. The Prime Minster has apparently removed the ministers from their responsibilities who came under fire from various quarters on different issues. The Awami League-led coalition government that came to office with an agenda to build a 'Digital Bangladesh' entrusted former diplomat Mostafa Faruque Mohammed with the charge of the Information and Communication Technology Ministry. New face Mazibul Hoque, a trusted Treasury Bench MP, has been given the charge of the Railways Ministry which came under spotlight due to the cash scandal involving one of the personal aides of then Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta and later due to 'hyper-activities' of acting minister Obaidul Quader. Another former diplomat A H Mahmud Ali has been given the task to handle the newly formed Disaster Management and Relief Ministry. His expertise and experience would be tested of 'utilising' government allocations for the social safety net. The two new state ministers – Abdul Hyee got Fisheries and Livestock and Omor Faruk Chowdhury Industries. Narsinghdi-5 lawmaker Rajiuddin Ahmed Raju has been removed from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications and placed in the Ministry of Labour and Employment. The family of murdered Narsinghdi municipal mayor Lokman Hossain has been alleging that Raju was an 'instigator' of the killing. Former Home Minister Shahara Khatun had been under fire from within the ruling party and outside for the law and order situation and her remarks to the media. Journalists have been staging various programmes against her as the law enforcers are yet to crack the mystery of journalist couple Sagar Sarowar and Meherun Runi's murder despite her 48-hour deadline to nab the killers. Abul Kalam Azad has lost the Information Ministry to JSD chief Hasanul Haq Inu and will now be in charge of Culture only. Losing Labour and Employment Ministry Khandaker Mosharraf Hossain, the father-in-law of PM's daughter, has retained only Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Ministry. On Thursday, six leaders of the ruling Awami League and one from coalition partner JSD took oath as ministers and state ministers, taking the number of Hasina-led cabinet members to 50. This was the fourth cabinet shake-up since the Awami League-led coalition swept the 2008 national polls. Senior ruling party politicians Suranjit Sengupta and Obaidul Quader were included in the cabinet in November last year. Sengupta stepped down barely four months later as his personal aide was caught in a cash scandal. He was later made a minister without portfolio. Tofail Ahmed, the Industries Minister in Hasina's 1996-2001 cabinet, came under fire from within the party like Suranjit for their 'role as reformists' during the military-backed emergency administration. Both Tofail and Bangladesh Workers Party Chief Rashed Khan Menon had turned down the offer to join the cabinet in the recent reshuffle. The refusals stirred up the country's politics. Opposition and a section of media have termed the refusal as 'failure of the government', but Suranjit has said it hint at a 'new equation'. Newly appointed Home Minister Mahiuddin Khan Alamgir had worked as a state minister at the Planning Ministry as a technocrat during Sheikh Hasina's 1996-2001 term. The former bureaucrat was also imprisoned during the past caretaker government. Comilla-11 lawmaker Mazibul Hoque, who has got the Railways Ministry, had been working as a Parliament Whip. Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammed Quader of the Jatiya Party and Industries Minister Dilip Barua of the Samyabadi Dal, two alliance partners, got place in the cabinet when it was formed in January 2009. Syed Abul Hossain had taken oath as a minister and Tanjim Ahmed (Sohel Taj) as a state minister when the cabinet was formed. But both eventually stepped down from their posts. Source: http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=3&id=232368&hb=1