Dhaka, Feb 17 (IANS) A total of 25 BNP MPs have been selected to take the oath as Ministers in the Cabinet, while 24 will be sworn in as state ministers, of the newly elected government in Bangladesh, local media reports.
The list of Ministers includes Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud Tuku, Hafiz Uddin Ahmed Bir Bikram, etc, according to the leading Bangladeshi daily, The Dhaka Tribune.
Two BNP leaders, Mohammad Amin Ur Rashid and Khalilur Rahman, will take oath as Technocrat Ministers, the report added.
The MPs will shortly take the oath as Ministers in the Cabinet.
Earlier in the day, during the BNP Parliamentary Party meeting, the MPs announced that they had decided not to accept duty-free vehicles or government plots.
According to local media reports, a total of 45 government vehicles were prepared for the new Ministers and were lined up in front of the Parliament Secretariat.
Meanwhile, earlier in the day, all 209 of the winning BNP candidates were sworn in as members of Parliament; however, they refused to take the Constitution Reform Council oath.
BNP leader Salauddin Ahmed said that on instructions of the party chief, Tarique Rahman, all BNP's newly elected MPs have been instructed not to sign the Constitution Reform Council form, since they were not elected as members of the council, Bangladesh's leading newspaper, The Daily Star, reported.
Following this, the 11-party alliance parties, including Jamaat-e-Islami, Islami Andolan and National Citizens' Party (NCP), refused to take parliamentary oaths, citing BNP's refusal to accept the Constitution Reform Council.
However, soon after the Jamaat-led alliance, independent candidates, and Islami Andolan Bangladesh took their oath as MPs.
Later, six newly elected NCP MPs also took the oath.
Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) AMM Nasir Uddin administered the oath in accordance with the country's Constitution. It was for the first time in the country's history that a CEC administered the oath to the newly elected MPs.
Meanwhile, the BNP Parliamentary Party elected Tarique Rahman as its Leader, setting him up to become the Leader of the House and take the oath as the Prime Minister of the country later in the day.
As the party with the majority of seats, the BNP established the Parliamentary Party and conducted its inaugural meeting, chaired by Tarique Rahman. During the meeting, the Parliamentary Party elected BNP Chairman Tarique as its Leader and the only candidate for prime minister, according to a post shared on BNP's Facebook page.
Speaking to journalists after the swearing-in ceremony, BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir also affirmed that Tarique, who has presented new plans and a vision for a "new Bangladesh", has been selected by the party's MPs to guide them in the Jatiya Sangsad, reports leading Bangladeshi daily, The Business Standard.
The 13th parliamentary election was held alongside the referendum on the July National Charter on February 12 in 299 out of the country's 300 constituencies.
In the elections, the BNP won 209 parliamentary seats, while the radical Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami secured 68 seats.
BNP's chairman Tarique, who won from two constituencies, vacated the Bogura-6 seat for a by-election and took oath as a member of Parliament from the Dhaka-17 constituency.
With Tarique now set to lead Bangladesh -- the country last saw a male PM almost 35 years ago -- experts warn that the nation faces a massive challenge of overcoming the unrest and rising Islamist extremism that marked the 18-month tenure of the Muhammad Yunus-led interim government.
--IANS
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