Partha Pratim Bhattacharjee: The prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, also the Awami League president, did not place most party stalwarts on the 32-member cabinet which was sworn in on Tuesday.

Party heavyweights such as Syeda Sajeda Chowdhury, Amir Hossain Amu, Abdur Razzak, Tofail Ahmed, Suranjit Sengupta, Abdul Jalil, Mohammad Nasim, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir, Sheikh Fazlul Karim Selim, Obaidul Kader, Mukul Bose, Saber Hossain Chowdhury, Abdul Matin Khasru, Abdul Mannan, Akhtaruzzaman, Mahmudur Rahman Manna, Sultan Mohammad Mansur Ahmed and Asaduzzaman Noor are not on the cabinet.

Hasina chose only three who were her cabinet colleagues between 1996 and 2001 — Matia Chowdhury, Syed Abul Hossain and Syed Ashraful Islam — for the cabinet.

Sajeda was minister for environment and forest, Amu for food, Razzak for water resources, Tofail for industries, Jalil for commerce, Selim for health, Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir for planning and Obaidul Kader for youth and sports.

Sources in the party said some senior leaders were not included in the government for their role against the party and Hasina after the January 11, 2007 political changeover and some others were not placed on the cabinet because of their dubious role over two years.

The party leaders who were vocal for Hasina after the political changeover, such as Abdul Latif Siddiqui, Sahara Khatun, Faruq Khan, Nurul Islam Naheed, Dipu Moni, Abdur Razzak, ABM Tajul Islam, Yafez Osman, Hasan Mahmud and Munnujan Sufian, were rewarded.

Sources said prominent party leaders who could not win place on the cabinet would be placed in an advisory cell to advise the government in day-to-day affairs.