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Hasina sworn in Premier

— Photo: AFP

Second spell: Sheikh Hasina Wajed signs documents after being sworn in Prime Minister in Dhaka on Tuesday.

DHAKA: Sheikh Hasina, leader of the grand alliance that won the December 29 general election, was sworn in Prime Minister in a simple ceremony here on Tuesday.

President Iajuddin Ahmed administered the oath of office as the 12th Prime Minister to Ms. Hasina, who is the daughter of the nation’s founding father, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. She is assuming the office for the second time; the first time being 1996-2001.

A 31-strong Council of Ministers was also sworn-in. There are 23 Cabinet Ministers and eight Ministers of State.

With the swearing-in of the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, the two-year-old caretaker government automatically ended its much discussed tenure.

The new Prime Minister is yet to distribute portfolios to the Ministers.

The swearing-in was attended by Chief Adviser of the caretaker government Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed and members of his Council of Advisers.

Chief of Army Staff General Moeen U. Ahmed, Nobel laureate Dr. Muhammad Yunus, Chief Election Commissioner A.T.M. Shamsul Huda, other services chiefs, and envoys were among the guests who attended the ceremony.

It is learnt that the Council of Ministers will be expanded soon as Ms. Hasina is likely to induct chiefs of her grand alliance partners into her Cabinet.

The Cabinet includes a lot of new and promising young faces. Significantly, Ms. Hasina has dropped all her old colleagues from the first Cabinet, particularly those “tainted” as “reformists” during the tenure of the caretaker government. When Ms. Hasina was in jail for one year, a host of senior and young leaders of the party had toed the line of the caretaker government to become “reformists.”

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