Sheikh Hasina has blooded some fresh faces to blend with the old band in her brand-new government as she looks to pick the right personnel to press ahead with her plan to rejuvenate the economy.

In reconfiguring the cabinet on the back of winning an absolute majority in the general election, she has culled some big names, including in finance and commerce portfolios - dropping the broadest hint yet at big changes to her core team to manage the economy that has been under a lot of strain since the Russia-Ukraine war.

Many of the influential and senior figures have been shunted out of the new council of ministers, according to lists published by the Cabinet Division on Wednesday.

Like the last time, Hasina has not brought back the ruling party’s allies to the cabinet, which will have 37 members, including 25 ministers and 11 state ministers.

More than half of them are going to work in a Hasina cabinet for the first time. As many as 14 ministers and 12 state ministers from the outgoing government have not been given a berth in the new cabinet.

Prominent among them are Agriculture Minister Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, Foreign Minister AK Abdul Momen, Planning Minister MA Mannan, and Textile and Jute Minister Golam Dastagir Gazi.

Also frozen out are Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi, Social Welfare Minister Nuruzzaman Ahmed, Fisheries and Livestock Minister SM Rezaul Karim, Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin, Chattogram Hill Tracts Affairs Minister Bir Bahadur Ushwe Singh, Land Minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, Railways Minister Md Nurul Islam Sujan and Expatriates’ Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Imran Ahmad.

Per the list, Hasina dropped five senior ministers who were in charge of ministries that are important for the management of the economy.

This is seen as a precursor to widespread changes to the top team that will be entrusted with the task of running the economy.

Finance Minister Kamal struggled to deliver his last two budgets, prompting Planning Minister Mannan to come to his rescue. Yet, both of them have lost out.

From the outgoing government, State Minister for Industries Kamal Ahmed Majumder, State Minister for Youth and Sport Md Zahid Ahsan Russel, State Minister for Social Welfare Md Ashraf Ali Khan Khasru, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam, State Minister for Housing and Public Works Sharif Ahmed and State Minister for Women and Children’s Affairs Fazilatun Nessa have failed to book a berth in the the new cabinet.

Three state ministers failed to secure the ruling party’s ticket to run in the election this time. They are State Minister for Cultural Affairs KM Khalid, State Minister for Labour Monnujan Sufian and State Minister for Primary and Mass Education Zakir Hossain.

Three other state ministers lost the election despite running with the Awami League’s nomination. They are State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Md Mahbub Ali, State Minister for Rural Development and Cooperatives Swapan Bhattacharjee and State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Enamur Rahman.

Habibun Nahar, deputy minister of environment, forest and climate change, and AKM Enamul Haque Shamim, deputy minister of water resources, have not been invited to join the new government.

Among the 24 ministers, 13 are new.

Four others, who had been in the government before the outgoing cabinet, have returned as full ministers.

Two deputy ministers and a state minister have also been promoted to ministers.

Two technocrat ministers and a state minister resigned before the election. They are Science and Technology Minister Yeafesh Osman, Post and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar and State Minister for Planning Shamsul Alam.

Only Yeafesh has been able to hold down his place in the new-look cabinet.

Hasina has also included another technocrat, but done away with deputy ministers.

Hasina has brought back career diplomat Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, who served in her cabinet as foreign minister from 2013-2018.

Faruk Khan, who had handled commerce and civil aviation ministries between 2009 and 2013, has also been called.

Saber Hossain Chowdhury has made a surprise cabinet comeback from the wilderness as a full minister. He has been absent in the past three governments after working as deputy minister of LGRD and shipping in the Awami League's 1996-2001 term.

Jahangir Kabir Nanak, the state minister for local government from 2009-2014, played no part in the successive governments. He has also returned to the cabinet.

Among the new blood, Hasina has asked Nazmul Hassan, the all-powerful president of Bangladesh Cricket Board for more than a decade, to join her cabinet. He had been saying lately that his days at the helm of the governing body were numbered.

She has sprung another surprise by calling Professor Samanta Lal Sen, the physician known for coordinating the national burns unit, to her government.

Abdur Rahman, a member of the Awami League’s presidium, former chief whip Abdus Shahid, RAM Obaidul Muktadir Chowdhury MP, a former aide to Hasina, retired major general Abdus Salam, and Md Zillul Hakim, president of Rajbari District Awami League, are making their debut as cabinet ministers.

Mohibul Hassan Chowdhoury Nowfel has reaped rewards for his services as deputy minister of education for the past five years by becoming a full minister.

The new state ministers include Simeen Hussain Rimi, daughter of Bangladesh’s first prime minister Tajuddin Ahmad, Mohammad Ali Arafat, who became an MP in 2023, and Patuakhali Awami League leader Md Mohibbur Rahman.

Kujendra Lal Tripura, who has been elected MP from Khagrachhari for the third time, former state minister Rahmat Ali’s daughter Rumana Ali, Sylhet District Awami League leader Shafiqur Rahman Chowdhury, and former Dhaka Stock Exchange president Ahsanul Islam Titu are also among the new state ministers.