Former bureaucrats quit CMO

Kolkata: Former state chief secretaries, Alapan Bandyopadhyay and Hari Krishna Dwivedi, resigned from their positions as chief advisors to Mamata Banerjee following BJP's sweeping mandate in the elections. Manoj Pant, another former chief secretary of Bengal, also resigned as principal secretary to the CM. "Apart from Bandyopadhyay, Dwivedi and Pant, several other retired officers serving as advisers and OSDs in different departments have also resigned," said an official. These bureaucrats were regarded as close aides of Didi.Bandyopadhyay is the first in the list who joined the post of chief adviser to the CM in 2021. He was followed by Dwivedi and B P Gopalika, two successive chief secretaries, who also joined as chief advisers to the CM. It is still not clear whether Gopalika, who is currently serving as the chairman of the WBIIDC, resigned or not. In 2023, the state extended Dwivedi's tenure as chief secretary by six months, a move opposed by then Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari. In 2021, Bandyopadhyay was at the centre of a centre-state tussle over a transfer order issued by the Union govt, which the state resisted. On the eve of his retirement, he was appointed chief adviser to Banerjee. The state on Dec 31, 2025, issued a notice to appoint Manoj Pant as principal secretary to Banerjee in the rank of chief secretary. Meanwhile, chief secretary Dushyant Nariala has asked departments to ensure proper safeguarding of important files.