00:05News from Bangladesh. Tariq Rahman has taken oath as Bangladesh Prime Minister after winning
00:11the polls. BNP leader Tariq Rahman has taken the oath. You see the visuals on your screen
00:16right now. 13 cabinet ministers, including the BNP second in command, Mirza Fakrul Alamgir,
00:23took oath after Tariq Rahman. And Yunus aid is likely to become Tariq Rahman's foreign minister.
00:31It is expected that Tariq Rahman will be inducting Dr. Khalilur Rahman in his cabinet. Rahman was
00:38serving as the national security advisor to the interim government under Mohammed Yunus.
00:44Joining us now is India Today's Pranev Padhi. Prane, do tell us what we know about the
00:50formation of the cabinet. As per the standard or the set procedure, you know, processes in
00:57Bangladesh, Tariq Rahman, after his swearing in, he's going to form the new cabinet and he's going
01:02to head the new cabinet. Assume senior ministers, you know, like us are swearing in ceremonies.
01:07There's cabinet ministers, the minister of state and deputy ministers will take oath. And this is
01:12a new beginning in Bangladesh. After the 13th general election, you know, Tariq Rahman is,
01:18has taken over and now he is sworn in as the new prime minister of Bangladesh. And, you know,
01:25a lot of hope in Bangladesh with the new Tariq era where, you know, where he has already indicated
01:30that he is for the process of reconciliation. He had a meeting with the Jamaat-e-Islami Amir
01:35Shafiq Rahman. He had a meeting with Nahid Islam, the NCP, the student leader who, you know,
01:40who have formed a party and contested this election, though they could not secure a big number of
01:46seats. But they are, they will be sitting in the opposition. And in fact, this wedding
01:51in ceremony has presence from various other countries as well. India's Lok Sabha speaker,
01:56Om Birla, along with India's foreign secretary, Vikram Mistry, are there in Dhaka to represent
02:01the government of India and people of India during this, this, this wedding in ceremony.
02:06But clearly, you know, as Tariq Rahman has indicated that he wants friendly relation with India. Now,
02:13the test for Tariq Rahman and his intent begins now. He has to balance the relationship. India,
02:19Bangladesh shares its largest and longest border with India.
02:24Right. Also joining us now is India Today's Indrajit Kundu. Indrajit, you were there before the polls. And if
02:32you could give us an idea about this cabinet, you know, how shall we read it? How India friendly or
02:40not
02:40is it? Well, you know, there's a big, big surprise, Anjali, for, for India right now, because Dr. Khalilu
02:50Rahman, who was a national security advisor in the interim government just a few days back, led by
02:57Muhammad Yunus till yesterday, in fact, officially, he has been inducted in this new cabinet. And what we
03:04are learning from our sources is that the foreign ministry portfolio, which India has its, is keenly
03:10observing, that could go to Dr. Khalilu Rahman. Dr. Khalilu Rahman, of course, is, is somebody who
03:17used to live abroad. He's a technocrat. He has been brought under that quota into this ministry. He did
03:24not fight this election. But in Bangladesh, you do have a quota in which you can bring in people from
03:28other walks of life who are well renowned and well known. So the BNP seem to have nominated Dr.
03:35Khalilu Rahman to the cabinet. He has just taken oath. And Dr. Khalilu Rahman was, you know, the
03:42national security advisor, when Muhammad Yunus was the chief of the interim government. So Yunus gave
03:49an address to the nation last night, where he bid adieu. And today afternoon, just a short while back,
03:56we got this big surprise since morning, there was a lot of buzz as to who is going to be
04:00the foreign
04:01minister. There were names like Humayun Kabir, who used to be the foreign, you know, foreign advisor
04:06to Tariq Rahman in the, in the BNP. There were name, other names that were doing the rounds. And this
04:12has come in as a huge, huge surprise. Muhammad Yunus's, you know, cloaky aide, somebody who worked
04:19with Muhammad Yunus in the past one and a half years, as a national security advisor in the interim
04:23government. He has been sworn in as a cabinet minister under Tariq Rahman in this new, new
04:31government. So in all likelihood, he will be getting the portfolio of the foreign ministry. And that
04:39would be very, very consequential. In fact, last year, November, he was in Delhi, and he held very
04:45crucial meetings, Dr. Khalilu Rahman, as the national security advisor of Bangladesh, with the NSA of
04:52India, Ajit Doval. And there was a very, very significant and important meeting that took place
04:58in New Delhi. So at this point in time, this comes as a huge development. Dr. Khalilu Rahman, who was
05:04the
05:04national security advisor for Bangladesh in the interim administration of Muhammad Yunus, has now been
05:09inducted in the cabinet of Tariq Rahman. And in all possibility, he would be becoming the next foreign
05:17minister of Bangladesh. Anjali. Right. Thank you, Inderji. So very interesting there, a career diplomat and
05:22economist, who served as a national security advisor, is now going to be the foreign affairs minister of
05:28Bangladesh.
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