Tarique Rahman sworn in as 11th PM of Bangladesh; 50 ministers in Cabinet

New Delhi: BNP chairman Tarique Rahman on Tuesday took oath as the 11th Prime Minister of Bangladesh after over twenty years since his mother finished her term as the PM amid hopes of stabilising ties with the country's biggest neighbour India.

Apart from Rahman, 25 ministers and 24 state ministers also took oath which included three technocrats. Among the 25 ministers, 17 are new faces, with all state ministers also holding the positions for the first time.

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Rahman, who was in exile for 17 years, is also a cabinet member for the first time and his biggest challenge will be his lack of experience in governance and handling radical pro-Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami. It was Rahman's father Gen Zia ur Rahman who founded the BNP and ran the country in late 1970s till he was assassinated.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla represented India at Rahman's swearing-in ceremony. Birla reached Dhaka earlier today, and was accompanied by foreign secretary Vikram Misri. The Lok Sabha Speaker said this was an "important moment" which would strengthen people-to-people ties and shared democratic values between India and Bangladesh. It is hoped that the BNP will pursue inclusive politics and will not allow the soil of Bangladesh to be utilised for anti-India activities unlike during 2001-06.

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The cabinet members, including senior BNP leaders Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir, Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, Salahuddin Ahmed, Iqbal Hasan Mahmud (Tuku), Major (retd.) Hafiz Uddin Ahmed, and others took their oath. Khalilur Rahman, national security adviser in the interim government, was a surprise pick in the cabinet.

The BNP bagged 209 out of 297 seats in the Bangladesh Parliament, while the right-wing Jamaat-e-Islami, once their ally and now their primary rival, won 68 seats in the February 12 elections. The Awami League was banned from contesting the polls. In an interesting move, the 212 members of the BNP-led alliance did not take the oath for the Constitution Reforms Commission, with leading members saying such a commission was outside of the law.

Maldivian president Mohamed Muizzu and Bhutanese Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay attended the swearing-in ceremony. Pakistan was represented by its Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal. The United Kingdom was represented by Minister for the Indo-Pacific Seema Malhotra.