Kolkata: Two former chief secretaries of West Bengal — Alapan Bandyopadhyay and H K Dwivedi — have resigned as chief advisors to outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the wake of the state’s political transition, an official at the state secretariat said on Wednesday.
The two retired IAS officers submitted their resignations on Tuesday, the official said, as the state government prepares to hand over power to the BJP‑led regime after the party stormed to power in the 2026 assembly elections.
Eminent economist Abhirup Sarkar has also stepped down from the dual posts of chairman of the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) and the West Bengal Small Industries Development Corporation (WBSIDC), the official added.
“Necessary administrative steps have been initiated following the resignations,” the official said, indicating that the new government will soon move to appoint fresh advisors and office‑bearers in these key posts.
Bandyopadhyay, who had been at the centre of a high‑profile tussle between the state and the Centre in 2021 over a transfer order, had initially been marked for a Central deputation but later took voluntary retirement from the Indian Administrative Service. Subsequently, he was appointed as chief advisor to the Chief Minister, a role in which he continued to be a key policy figure during the final years of the TMC‑led government.
Dwivedi, another senior bureaucrat, served as West Bengal’s chief secretary after Bandyopadhyay’s exit and later continued to advise the state government on critical administrative and policy matters.
Earlier, the state’s Advocate General Kishore Dutta submitted his resignation to Governor R N Ravi.
The BJP secured 207 seats in the 294‑member West Bengal Legislative Assembly, ending the Trinamool Congress’s uninterrupted 15‑year rule in the state.
