Indian govt hopeful of LBA

The Constitution amendment bill to implement the Land Boundary Agreement ( LBA) between India and Bangladesh will be placed in the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) of the Indian Parliament in its winter session beginning end of November.

Now the bill is with the Parliament Standing Committee headed by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who enjoys personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having supported his 'Clean India' campaign.

Only after this committee submits its report can the bill be placed again in the parliament.

Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh has already appeared before this panel to clarify to members on the issue.

The bill could not be initially introduced in the Rajya Sabha because of stiff opposition from the BJP, Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad (AGP).

But after former Bangladesh foreign minister Dipu Moni's meeting with Arun Jaitley (now finance and defence minister), many senior BJP leaders changed their opinion and did not oppose the introduction of the bill in Rajya Sabha by India's former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid.

Khurshid introduced the bill despite stiff opposition of Trinamool and AGP MPs.

Now that Modi has promised to clear this bill after meeting his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina and that has been supported by the Congress, the majority in Rajya Sabha will be easy to get to ensure safe passage of the bill.

Rajya Sabha sources told bdnews24.com that the bill is likely to place within a week of the start of the session.

And once placed, there should be no difficulty in passing it, though the Trinamool and AGP MPs may still oppose it.

Modi has also started building up pressure on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to accept the Teesta Water sharing deal. National Security Adviser Ajit Doval may raise the issue when he meets Banerjee on Monday and request to support the agreement in 'India's larger national interest of forging strong bilateral ties with Bangladesh'.