Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has initiated a significant bureaucratic reshuffle within the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), appointing a new Officer on Special Duty (OSD) along with several senior-level administrative changes. The move, announced through an official Nabanna notification on Wednesday, is being viewed as part of the BJP government’s effort to strengthen the administrative structure after assuming power in West Bengal with a clear majority.
Among the key appointments, Hirakjyoti Majumdar has been named the new OSD to the Chief Minister. A 2008-batch WBCS officer, Hirakjyoti was previously serving as the District Youth Officer of Paschim Medinipur. His transfer to the CMO is being seen as an important addition to Suvendu Adhikari’s core administrative team at a time when the new government is still shaping its governance framework.
The reshuffle also includes the appointment of two senior WBCS officers as Additional Secretaries in the Chief Minister’s Office. Shantanu Basu, a 1999-batch officer, has been moved from the Minority Affairs and Madrasah Education Department, where he served as Additional Secretary. Alongside him, Abhik Chattopadhyay, a 2001-batch WBCS officer who was earlier posted in the Self Help Group and Self Employment Department, has also been brought into the CMO as Additional Secretary.
In another key administrative change, 2006-batch WBCS officer Diptarka Basu has been appointed as Senior Deputy Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office. Before this posting, he was serving as the Registrar General of Marriage under the state Law Department.
The appointments were formally communicated through a notification issued from Nabanna on Wednesday, indicating that the newly formed BJP government is gradually putting its administrative machinery into place.
The reshuffle comes just days after the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections were declared on May 4, paving the way for the BJP’s return to power with a single-party majority. Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as Chief Minister, while five ministers were inducted into the Cabinet in the first phase.
Although departmental responsibilities have already been distributed among those ministers, the full Cabinet has not yet been constituted. Political observers believe the latest bureaucratic changes inside the CMO suggest that the government is now focusing on consolidating administrative control before announcing the next phase of Cabinet expansion.
Officials familiar with the developments said more reshuffles at the secretary and departmental levels are likely in the coming weeks as the new administration begins implementing its governance priorities across departments.
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