Mamata to accompany PM Singh during Dhaka trip

New Delhi, Jul 10: Newly elected Bengal Prime Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his September 6-7 visit to Bangladesh. This would be Mamata's first overseas trip since taking over the post of the CM in May, 2011.

The PM would pay a two-days official visit at the invitation of his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina. According to the media reports, the Teesta water sharing treaty between Bangladesh and India is likely to be signed by Manmohan and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina during the visit.

As the Teesta deal is between West Bengal from the Indian side and Bangladesh, the Centre has decided to involve Mamata in the treaty just as it was done during the historical Ganga water sharing accord that was signed on December 12, 1996, by the then Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda and Sheikh Hasina, who was the Bangladeshi PM at that time as well. The then Bengal CM Jyoti Basu was credited with playing an important role in signing of that pact.

This time Mamata as Bengal CM is being taken into confidence by the Centre before the treaty is prepared.

The visit to Dhaka with the PM would provide an opportunity for Mamata to further her goodwill with Hasina. The Bangladeshi prime minister was one of the first persons to congratulate the Trinamool Congress chief after her party's landslide victory on May 13.

OneIndia News