Dinesh Trivedi, a former Union minister and veteran politician from West Bengal, is expected to be appointed India’s next High Commissioner to Bangladesh, sources said on Sunday.
Pranay Verma, who had been serving as India’s High Commissioner in Dhaka since September 2022, was on April 10 named as the next ambassador to Belgium and the European Union.
It is learnt that New Delhi has been considering appointing a political figure to the key diplomatic post in Dhaka amid efforts to reset bilateral ties after the new Bangladesh Nationalist Party government led by Prime Minister Tarique Rahman was formed in February following elections.
The relations between India and Bangladesh witnessed a major downturn after the interim government headed by Muhammad Yunus came to power following the collapse of the Sheikh Hasina government in August 2024.
Trivedi, 75, served as the railway minister and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare during the UPA rule. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and was a Lok Sabha MP from Barrackpore constituency in the state. He quit the Trinamool Congress in February 2021 and joined the BJP.
Sources said Trivedi is likely to be appointed as the High Commissioner in Dhaka, a key position, in view of his extensive experience. However, there was no formal announcement yet.
Verma, a 1994-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, had assumed charge as the High Commissioner in Dhaka on September 21, 2022.
Bangladesh Foreign Minister Khalilur Rahman, accompanied by the prime minister’s advisor for foreign affairs, Humayun Kabir, visited New Delhi early this month. It was the first high-level visit to India by a senior member of the new Bamgladesh government.
During their talks, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar conveyed to his Bangladeshi counterpart India’s desire to engage “constructively” with the new government in Dhaka and further strengthen bilateral ties.
Jaishankar and Rahman deliberated extensively on charting a new path of cooperation, leaving behind more than 18 months of heightened diplomatic tension witnessed during the tenure of Bangladesh’s interim government.
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