Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane on Monday took over as the general officer commanding-in-chief of the army’s Eastern Command, replacing Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, who has been given charge of the central command in Lucknow.

The Eastern Command oversees Bengal and Assam, besides Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Meghalaya.

Commissioned into the 7th Battalion of the Sikh Light Infantry in June 1980, Lt Gen Naravane will be the senior-most officer of the force when General Bipin Rawat retires in December 2019.

He had headed the Army Training Command in Shimla before moving to Calcutta.

If seniority remains the benchmark, Lt Gen Naravane could be the next army chief. Some believe his new assignment would give him the experience required for the top post. “The choice of such a senior officer to head the Eastern Command spells out Delhi’s priorities for the east, which has borders with China,” a senior officer said.