New Delhi: With a sulking West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee deciding to opt out of the Bangladesh trip with the Prime Minister, the government has got into damage control mode.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on late Monday night called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and assured her that nothing will be done on the contentious Teesta river treaty that was to be inked during the PM's visit to Dhaka from September 6-7.
The interests of West Bengal will be kept in mind and consultations with her will continue on the issue, Dr Singh told Ms Banerjee, a close aide of the Trinamool chief said. Ms Banerjee was reportedly unhappy with this pact.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said that the government would go ahead with the Teesta river pact only if it was acceptable to the West Bengal government.
"In our federal scheme of things, nothing is done or will be done without consultations with the State Government. Any agreement that we conclude will have to be acceptable to the State Government...won't get into details on where we are now", Mr Mathai said.
Ms Banerjee was supposed to be one of five chief ministers to have accompanied the PM on this trip. While the other chief ministers - of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram - are already in Dhaka, the PM is scheduled to leave tomorrow. The visit was meant to see several pacts being signed including the one on sharing the Teesta waters which has been a bone of contention between the neighbours for long.
Ms Banerjee's sudden pullout just ahead of the PM's high-profile trip clearly came as a huge embarrassment to the government and was being viewed as a major dampener.
"The presence of four Chief Ministers underlines the importance of the Prime Minister's visit and one more Chief Minister would have been useful but won't comment", Mr Mathai said.
Sources say, the West Bengal Chief Minister is unhappy over equal water-sharing of the Teesta river. Ms Banerjee, according to sources, thinks the pact is unfair to her state and that Bangladesh should get 25 per cent water.
Sources say that the final draft agreement has not put any cap over the 25 per cent sharing limit.
This essentially means that during the lean season when there is no rainfall, more than 25 per cent of water has to be released to ensure that Bangladesh gets its 50 per cent share of river water. The matter was fiercely debated at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) held last Friday.
Bangladesh 'disappointed' over Mamata's pullout from trip
Bangladesh is "disappointed" over the last-minute decision by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to drop out of the delegation led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the country.
"We will be disappointed if she does not come as she is a great friend of Bangladesh and she has a great following in this country and is a close friend of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's foreign affairs adviser Gawher Rizvi told PTI.
But he said Bangladesh was sure that she would visit the country very soon and a very warm welcome awaits her.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on late Monday night called West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and assured her that nothing will be done on the contentious Teesta river treaty that was to be inked during the PM's visit to Dhaka from September 6-7.
The interests of West Bengal will be kept in mind and consultations with her will continue on the issue, Dr Singh told Ms Banerjee, a close aide of the Trinamool chief said. Ms Banerjee was reportedly unhappy with this pact.
Earlier on Monday, Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai said that the government would go ahead with the Teesta river pact only if it was acceptable to the West Bengal government.
"In our federal scheme of things, nothing is done or will be done without consultations with the State Government. Any agreement that we conclude will have to be acceptable to the State Government...won't get into details on where we are now", Mr Mathai said.
Ms Banerjee was supposed to be one of five chief ministers to have accompanied the PM on this trip. While the other chief ministers - of Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya and Mizoram - are already in Dhaka, the PM is scheduled to leave tomorrow. The visit was meant to see several pacts being signed including the one on sharing the Teesta waters which has been a bone of contention between the neighbours for long.
Ms Banerjee's sudden pullout just ahead of the PM's high-profile trip clearly came as a huge embarrassment to the government and was being viewed as a major dampener.
"The presence of four Chief Ministers underlines the importance of the Prime Minister's visit and one more Chief Minister would have been useful but won't comment", Mr Mathai said.
Sources say, the West Bengal Chief Minister is unhappy over equal water-sharing of the Teesta river. Ms Banerjee, according to sources, thinks the pact is unfair to her state and that Bangladesh should get 25 per cent water.
Sources say that the final draft agreement has not put any cap over the 25 per cent sharing limit.
This essentially means that during the lean season when there is no rainfall, more than 25 per cent of water has to be released to ensure that Bangladesh gets its 50 per cent share of river water. The matter was fiercely debated at a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) held last Friday.
Bangladesh 'disappointed' over Mamata's pullout from trip
Bangladesh is "disappointed" over the last-minute decision by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to drop out of the delegation led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the country.
"We will be disappointed if she does not come as she is a great friend of Bangladesh and she has a great following in this country and is a close friend of our Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina," Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's foreign affairs adviser Gawher Rizvi told PTI.
But he said Bangladesh was sure that she would visit the country very soon and a very warm welcome awaits her.
No comments:
Post a Comment