Muhammad Yunus to continue as Bangladesh interim government chief, says adviser

Muhammad Yunus will continue as the head of Bangladesh’s interim government, PTI quoted an adviser in his cabinet as having said on Saturday. This came two days after one of his key allies claimed that Yunus had been considering his resignation.

“He [Yunus] did not say he will leave,” Planning Adviser Wahiduddin Mahmud told reporters after an unscheduled meeting of the advisory council. “He said that while we face many obstacles in carrying out the work and responsibilities assigned to us, we are overcoming them.”

Stating that Yunus was “definitely staying”, Mahmud added that none of the advisers were going anywhere as “the responsibility entrusted to us is a significant one; we cannot abandon this duty”.

Yunus, a Nobel laureate economist, took over as chief adviser of Bangladesh’s interim government three days after Sheikh Hasina resigned as the prime minister and fled to India on August 5. Hasina fled after several weeks of widespread student-led protests against her Awami League government.

On Thursday, Yunus told leaders from the student-led National Citizen Party that he was mulling resignation because he felt that “the situation is such that he cannot work”, PTI reported. He cited difficulties in working amid the failure of political parties to find common ground for change.

Following this, Members of the...

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