26.8.13

Didi nixes Bangladesh policy

West Bengal Chief minister Mamata Banerjee has stepped in at the eleventh hour to nix Manmohan Singh’s Bangladesh policy yet again.
She scuttled the UPA government’s second attempt to introduce a constitutional amendment to formalize a land boundary agreement, asserting the Centre could not take the decision without the consent of state governments. The failure to introduce the bill is likely to have an adverse effect on Indo-Bangla relations as well as on the fate of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who has invested a lot to shore up ties with New Delhi.
With the government coming under combined fire from the Tamil parties on Sri Lanka, Manmohan Singh’s foreign policy in the neighbourhood is under increasing threat.
The Trinamool Congress was working in tandem with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), as well as the BJP. For the second time in six months, AGP members prevented foreign minister Salman Khurshid from introducing the bill that seeks to amend the constitution to legitimize the LBA the Prime Mimister had signed with Sheikh Hasina.
AGP has been objecting to the supposed loss of territory with Bangladesh, even though the “exchange” is purely “notional”. MEA and PMO’s bill outreach falls short
BJP leaders had already informed Salman Khurshid they were not comfortable with the bill. Mamata had earlier prevented the signing of the Teesta water-sharing pact with Bangladesh a day before the PM travelled to that country. 

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