Assam up in arms over land transfer, Bengal miffed: Advani

Kolkata, Oct 21: BJP leader L K Advani today (Oct 21) claimed that Assam was up in arms over the proposed transfer of territory to Bangladesh, while West Bengal was miffed with attempted agreement on the Teesta water sharing.

"West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is miffed with the attempted backdoor agreement on the sharing of Teesta waters," Advani told reporters here, while stating that his party was not consulted on the proposed transfer of land in Assam to Bangladesh by the Centre.

"We were invited by the government, but no discussion was held there on the transfer of land to Bangladesh," Advani said.

"We went and had a cup of tea, but were not consulted on this." The BJP leader had yesterday said in Guwahati that had they known Assam's land was being given away, they would have protested before the land agreement was signed between the two countries.

He said his party would ask for an account on it and on Bangladeshi infiltration into Assam from the government in the Winter Session of Parliament.

Regarding the proposed Land Bill, Advani said, "We have been co-operating with the government on many issues, but we want the government to respect the federal structure of the country."

PTI