India has no-one but itself to blame for failure to strike a deal on equitable sharing of Teesta waters, Bangladesh has said.
Ambika Soni to meet Mamata over Teesta pact
In a bid to resolve differences over the Teesta water-sharing pact, Indian central government minister Ambika Soni, acting on behalf of prime minister Manmohan Singh, will meet with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Published : 16 Sept 2011, 02:03 AM
Updated : 16 Sept 2011, 02:03 AM
Dhaka, Sep 16 (bdnews24.com)—In a bid to resolve differences over the Teesta water-sharing pact, Indian central government minister Ambika Soni, acting on behalf of prime minister Manmohan Singh, will meet with West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.
Soni, who will be visiting Kolkata on Friday to attend two official functions, including the convocation of the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute, will take the opportunity to discuss the pact with Mamata, the Press Trust of India said.
Earlier, national security advisor Shiv Shankar Menon had been engaging with Mamata on behalf of New Delhi. His failure to make headway has led to Manmohan electing to send Soni to persuade the West Bengal chief.
The deal to share water of the Teesta was not signed during Manmohan's Sept 6-7 visit to Dhaka due to Mamata's opposition. Although she was set to accompany prime minister in the visit, she opted out just before the visit, expressing her objection to the agreement as she felt it would hurt the interests of her state.
Manmohan said the not signing of the deal was 'unfortunate.' Meanwhile Dhaka still hopes that the deal would be signed within three months and blames India for the failure.
The two countries also failed to sign a letter of consent regarding transit. Bangladesh refrained from making the deal due to the failure of the Teesta agreement.
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The central government minister, however, refuses to disclose whether the two talked on the issue of Teesta waters.
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