Diplomats’ reshuffle on cards, envoy to Dhaka tipped for US

NEW DELHI: The government is planning a rash of changes in its envoys to a number of key world capitals, with high commissioner to Bangladesh Harsh Shringla tipped to be the next ambassador to the US, replacing Navtej Sarna, who is scheduled to retire at the end of this year.
India’s ambassador to Myanmar, Vikram Misri, is likely to take over from Gautam Bambawale as India’s next ambassador to China.
Bambawale has enjoyed a hat-trick of big-ticket postings from Thimphu to Islamabad and Beijing. Syed Akbaruddin is likely to continue to helm affairs at the UN in New York as one of the top Indian diplomats. Sujan Chinoy, ambassador to Japan, will retire soon, but sources say he has been asked to oversee Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Tokyo at the end of October before handing over the baton to Sanjay Varma, currently additional secretary.

Bhagwant Bishnoi, India’s ambassador to Thailand, is likely to be replaced by Suchitra Durai, currently high commissioner to Kenya. Shringla may be replaced by Riva Ganguly Das, currently in charge of MEA’s culture arm, ICCR, in Dhaka. Ruchi Ghanshyam, currently secretary (east), will be India’s next high commissioner to the UK, replacing Yash Sinha who will retire from service.
Misri, who came to Myanmar after a stint as India’s ambassador to Spain, may be replaced by Saurabh Kumar, currently India’s envoy to Iran. If Misri is confirmed, he will be the second envoy after former foreign secretary S Jaishankar not to be part of the MEA’s famous “China bloc”.

Sanjay Verma, currently chief of protocol, is believed to be heading to Spain, replacing Venkatesh Verma, who is taking over from Pankaj Saran as the ambassador to Russia.