Bangladesh’s new Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has named 49 ministers in his first cabinet, including two student leaders from the 2024 uprising. Nurul Haque Nur and Zonayed Abdur Rahim Saki are first-time MPs and now junior ministers. The BNP leader, sworn in after 17 years in exile, took office five days after his party’s election win. Nur gained fame during the 2018 anti-job-quota protests and was a key figure in the 2024 student-led movement that toppled former PM Sheikh Hasina. He belongs to the Gono Odhikar Parishad party but stood as a BNP-backed candidate. Zonayed Saki, a left-leaning activist and head of the Ganosanhati Andolan, entered politics as a student opposing a past military regime. He won his seat by 55,000 votes. Political analysts see their cabinet roles as a reward to BNP allies and recognition of their roles in the uprising. Both will have limited ministerial powers as junior ministers. Meanwhile, the National Citizen Party, formed by other student leaders from the uprising, won few seats and is now in opposition with Jamaat-e-Islami.