NEW DELHI: TMC supremo and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee appointed acclaimed diplomat-author-turned politician Pavan K Varma as the party's vice president on Sunday with immediate effect.
Varma, who is acclaimed for his literary genius and academic creations with the credit of authoring more than a dozen of books, had recently joined the TMC in New Delhi.
Welcoming him in the TMC, Mamata Banerjee has said that Varma's academics and great personality will give a direction in taking the party to a new height to help serve the people and the nation.
Graduated from Delhi's St Stephen's College, Varma qualified to Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and served the nation as the high commissioner of India to Cyprus from 2004-5 in addition to heading the ICCR as DG from 2009-10.
Earlier, he was also an advisor to Bihar CM Nitish Kumar with a cabinet rank of status but he distanced himself from the JD-U protesting against the party's stand on the CAA and the NRC issues.
He had also shared the political ideologies of JD-U as national spokesperson till he resigned from the party. He had also been a Rajya Sabha MP of JD-U.
Varma has authored many books including The Havelis of Old Delhi, Krishna-The Playful Divine, The Great India Muddle Class(non-fiction), and others.