Bangladesh's PM Hasina hands ministers portfolios

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh's new Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina allocated portfolios to her 23 cabinet members, offering the Finance Ministry to economist Abul Maal Abdul Muhit.

The Foreign and Home Ministries went, for the first time, to women legislators.

Hasina named senior Supreme Court lawyer Sahara Khatun to head the Home (interior) Ministry and the leader of her Awami League women's front, Dipu Moni, to head foreign affairs.

Hasina, winner of last month's parliamentary election, was sworn in as prime minister for a second five-year term on Tuesday by President Iajuddin Ahmed, ending two years of rule by an army-backed interim government.

Iajuddin also administered the oath to Hasina's ministers, hours before she allocated them ministries.

Hasina's Awami League and its allies won more than two-thirds of parliament's 300 seats in the Dec. 29 election, billed free and credible by local and international monitors.

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) led by Hasina's rival Begum Khaleda Zia, also a former prime minister, and its Jamaat-e-Islami ally won 31 seats, and alleged the vote was rigged.

Hasina rejected the charge and offered to share power with Khaleda's party if it cooperated with the new administration.

H.T. Imam, one of Hasina's top advisers, said Sahara and Dipu were "chosen carefully by judging their honesty, integrity and ability to perform". He did not elaborate.