India, June 26 -- The Union Government has granted Indian envoy to Bangladesh Dinesh Trivedi the status equivalent to that of a Union Cabinet Minister. An order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Wednesday said Trivedi "has been assigned the equivalent status of Union Cabinet Minister in the Table of Precedence (ToP) as a measure personal to him, without amending the Table of Precedence".

"The position in Table of Precedence is for ceremonial functions only," it added. Trivedi, a former Union minister, was appointed as India's high commissioner to Bangladesh on April 27.

The 76-year-old BJP leader presented his credentials to President Mohammed Shahabuddin in Dhaka on Thursday, marking the start of his diplomatic assignment...