Former Union Minister Dinesh Trivedi to be appointed High Commissioner to Bangladesh: Report

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi may be appointed as India’s next High Commissioner to Bangladesh, with his “rich experience” considered a key factor, the Press Trust of India reported citing sources.If confirmed, Trivedi, who hails from West Bengal, a state bordering Bangladesh, would hold a rare political appointment to the ambassadorial post.Pranay Verma, who served as India’s high commissioner to Bangladesh, was appointed as the next ambassador to Belgium and the European Union on Friday. Verma, a 1994-batch diplomat, assumed the post of High Commissioner in Dhaka in September 2022.New Delhi has reportedly been considering appointing a politician to a key diplomatic post in Dhaka in an effort to reset bilateral relations after the formation of a new government led by Bangladesh Nationalist Party Chairman Tariq Rehman in February.India’s relations with Bangladesh took a serious downturn in August 2024 when an interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus came to power after the collapse of Sheikh Hasina’s government amid student-led protests.Trivedi, 75, served as Railway Minister and Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare as a member of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) during the Congress-led UPA government. Later, he was elected to the federal assembly of West Bengal and served as the Lok Sabha member from Barrackpore. He quit the TMC in February 2021 to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, which has been the ruling party in the country since May 2014.Although an official announcement has not yet been made, Trivedi’s congratulatory message was posted on social media by BJP IT cell chief and West Bengal co-incharge Amit Malviya.Malviya wrote on