The Indian government is expected to appoint Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former lawmaker Dinesh Trivedi as the next envoy to Bangladesh, marking a significant departure from the tradition of appointing career diplomats to the key post.
Trivedi, who has previously served in the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC), will be the first political appointee to hold the position in Dhaka in many decades.
Before this, the handful of political appointees who held the post included Subimal Dutt and Samar Sen, who belonged to the erstwhile Indian Civil Service (ICS).
The Indian Foreign Service has traditionally seen a stint in Dhaka as the envoy leading to greater things, with several high commissioners going on to become foreign secretary.
However, the government has now decided to appoint a political appointee to serve as an envoy in the neighbourhood in about three decades, following the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's victory in the general election in February.
Trivedi's appointment is seen as a strategic move to take forward ties with Bangladesh after a period when the Indian side was seen as too closely aligned with the previous Awami League government led by Sheikh Hasina.
The Indian government has begun the formal process of seeking an agrément, or diplomatic agreement, for the posting of Trivedi, and the assembly elections in West Bengal were another factor that reportedly went in his favour.
