6 follow fathers’ steps into the cabinet

Six members of the new council of ministers have mirrored their fathers’ legacy as the BNP and its allies assume power after winning the February 12 national election.

One of them has been appointed a full minister, the remaining five state ministers. All are first-time lawmakers.

In the 50-member council, Afroza Khanam Rita became a minister after winning Manikganj-3. A member of the BNP chairperson’s Advisory Council and convener of the district BNP, she is the first woman elected from the seat since independence.

Her father, late industrialist Harunar Rashid Khan, was elected MP four times from Manikganj-2 and Manikganj-3 and also served as a minister.

The new cabinet comprises 26 ministers, including Prime Minister Tarique Rahman. The new government also has 24 state ministers.

Among the state ministers is Ishraque Hossain, elected from Dhaka-6, the son of late BNP leader Sadeque Hossain Khoka. Khoka served as fisheries minister in the BNP-led four-party alliance government and as mayor of Dhaka City Corporation from 2002 to 2011. In the 1991-96 BNP government, he was the state minister for youth and sports.

Shama Obayed, now a state minister and BNP’s organising secretary for Faridpur division, entered politics after the death of her father, KM Obaidur Rahman.

Obaidur, a Liberation War organiser, was BNP’s secretary general and a minister and state minister. He contested Faridpur-2 five times and was elected four times.

Farzana Sharmin Putul, elected from Natore-1, has also taken oath as a state minister in her first parliamentary election. She is the daughter of late state minister Fazlur Rahman and currently serves as joint convener of Natore district BNP.

Anindya Islam Amit, BNP’s acting organising secretary for Khulna division, was elected from Jashore-3 for the first time and sworn in as a state minister.

He is the son of late minister and BNP Standing Committee member Tariqul Islam, who was elected multiple times from the same constituency.

From Chattogram-5, Mir Mohammad Helal Uddin has entered the cabinet as a state minister. A central joint organising secretary of the BNP, he contested his first election this year.

His father, Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin, a BNP vice-chairman, was a former state minister for civil aviation and tourism and an ex-mayor of Chattogram City Corporation.

Also among the new state ministers is Yeaser Khan Chowdhury, elected from Mymensingh-9. His father, Md Anwarul Hossain Khan Chowdhury, was elected MP from the same seat in 1991 and later served as an adviser to former president Ziaur Rahman.