Prime minister Sheikh Hasina has initiated a move to constitute an ‘interim cabinet’ with members of the incumbent parliament probably by November 20 to run the interim administration although the constitution says nothing about such type of government, according to policymakers.
Presiding over the weekly cabinet meeting at the secretariat on Monday, the prime minister asked the ministers to resign so that she could induct some new faces in the planned smaller cabinet, several ministers confirmed.
Hasina called upon the party leaders to get prepared for the parliamentary elections.
‘The interim cabinet would be formed with around 20 elected representatives from the parties having representation in parliament and willing to join the polls-time administration to be led by the prime minister,’ a senior minister said, adding that the prime minister had made it clear that door was open to all parties in parliament, expect Jamaat-e-Islami.
He said the prime minister would drop many of her cabinet colleagues and induct new faces in the ‘small cabinet’ ahead of the elections due before January 24.
The minister said that the Awami League-led alliance was making all preparations
for the 10th parliamentary polls, keeping in mind that the main opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party might boycott the polls without a non-party caretaker government.
Several ministers have asserted that the elections would be held by January 10 in line with the constitution – no matter whether the opposition camp joined it or not.
‘The interim cabinet would start functioning after the announcement of the election schedule,’ food minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque told New Age on Sunday.
He said that the government would run the country in keeping with the Representation of the People Order and the cabinet would carry out the routine work only.
Finance minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith said on Monday that the prime minister would constitute the poll-time cabinet anytime after November 17 on her return from a three-day visit to Sri Lanka.
Hasina, also president of Awami League, earlier offered formation of an all-party government – a proposal turned down by the opposition BNP.
A policymaker in the ruling Awami League said that the major allies of the ruling alliance, including Jatiya Party and Workers Party of Bangladesh, would have their representations in the ‘all-party government’.
Minister without portfolio Suranjit Sengupta on Saturday said that the cabinet members would soon submit their resignations to the prime minister.
‘After the resignation of the cabinet members, the prime minister will start work on constituting an all-party election-time cabinet to oversee the next polls,’ Suranjit, also a member of the AL advisory council, told a function in the city.
Several senior bureaucrats said that the interim administration would not be different from the present government legally or constitutionally.
BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia on several occasions said that they would neither join the polls-time government nor take part in the elections with Sheikh Hasina at the helm of the administration.
The 90-day countdown to the next general elections began on October 27 with the cabinet and parliament continuing as usual as there are no legal or constitutional guidelines as to how the polls-time administration should run, said a retired secretary.
He said the system of non-party caretaker government was annulled by the Constitution (15th Amendment) Act, 2011, but nothing was incorporated in place of the provision.
As a result, the present government could continue until the next elected government takes over, the ex-bureaucrat added.
Chief election commissioner Kazi Rakibuddin Ahmad on Sunday hinted that the election schedule would be announced towards the end of November.
He earlier said that the polls-time government could not take any ‘policy decisions’ and it would carry out only ‘routine work’ the way the caretaker government used to do.
Sheikh Hasina on several occasions affirmed her stand that the next polls would be held under the elected government although the BNP has been pressing for restoration of the non-party caretaker government system through a constitutional amendment. (source)