Mamata in town

Hours before the arrival of Narendra Modi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee reached Dhaka yesterday to attend some official programmes with the Indian prime minister.

State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam welcomed her at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport after she landed around 8:28pm.

It is not clear whether Mamata will attend all official programmes with Modi. According to the schedule, she will hold a meeting with the Indian PM today at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel for 15 minutes from 3:15pm.

Foreign ministry officials said the West Bengal chief minister was due to attend flagging off Kolkata-Dhaka-Agartala bus service by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at 3:45pm.

She would also be present during exchange of Instrument of Ratification of the historic Land Boundary Agreement.

Officials said Mamata is likely to join Modi at the delegation level official talks and depart for Kolkata in the evening.

Diplomatic sources in Dhaka and New Delhi said the West Bengal CM's decision not to travel with Modi clearly shows that she was still not ready to sign the Teesta water-share deal with Bangladesh.

She is not only staying in a separate hotel in Dhaka but will also return in advance though her name on top of the official delegation list of Modi.

A couple of days ago, Mamata had said she was going to Dhaka to attend exchange of LBA instrument and claimed that the Teesta issue is not on the agenda of Dhaka talks.  

Earlier, on her arrival at the Dhaka airport, Mamata told media, “Let's we all pray that relations between the two countries is further strengthened and long lasting.

"In future, the two countries will work together for the betterment of people of both countries."

She made similar comments at the NSC Bose International airport prior to leaving Kolkata for Dhaka on a regular Air India flight.

Immediately after landing, Mamata in a twitter message said, “Happy to be here and send my first tweet from here. My greetings to all my brothers and sisters in Bangladesh. The Land Boundary Agreement between India and Bangladesh is historic.”