6 new state ministers set for oath...............

Six new state ministers will be sworn in Saturday evening as prime minister Sheikh Hasina expands her government, highly placed sources said.

The new state ministers are scheduled to take oath at around 7pm at the Bangabhaban, sources with knowledge of the matter at the Cabinet Division and presidential house confirmed to us.

The new state ministers are Shamsul Haq Tuku, Abdul Mannan, Motahar Hossain, Jahangir Kabir Nanak, Kamrul Islam and Shahjahan Khan.

All preparations for the swearing-in ceremony are complete, officials at the Cabinet Division told us.

After the Awami League-led grand alliance won a landslide victory in the ninth parliamentary election on Dec. 29, Hasina took oath as prime minister and 32 others as ministers and state ministers on Jan. 6.

A 32-strong cabinet took oath on Jan. 6. The incumbent cabinet includes 24 ministers and eight state ministers.

The incumbent state ministers are Mostafizar Rahman Fizar, forests and environment, ABM Tazul Islam, liberation war affairs, Hasan Mahmud, foreign affairs, Munnuzan Sufian, labour and employment, Dipankar Talukdar, Chittagong Hill Tracts affairs, Ahad Ali Sarker, youth and sports, Tanjim Ahmed Sohel, home affairs, and Yafes Osman, science and ICT.