After completing her South Bengal district tour, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will go to New Delhi to meet Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Friday. She is also expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, sources in the Chief Minister’s Office [CMO] told The Hindu .
“She will be leaving for Delhi on April 7. Prime Minister Hasina will be arriving the same day on a four-day visit. The Chief Minister will be present at the lunch and dinner [hosted by the President] on April 8,” an official in the CMO said.
Sources close to the President told The Hindu that Mr. Mukherjee “may have separate and informal meetings with Ms. Hasina and Ms. Banerjee.”
Ms. Banerjee is “expected to meet the Prime Minister Modi in the banquet. However, we are not sure about an exclusive meeting between the two," the official said.
Ms Banerjee’s decision has put an end to speculations about her New Delhi trip during Ms. Hasina's visit. The Centre expected her to visit the capital to have a dialogue on sharing of the waters of river Teesta with Bangladesh.
While Ms. Banerjee is still not in favour of sharing the water as demanded by Dhaka, as the river provides water to many villages in north Bengal, she has indicated that she is not averse to having a dialogue with Ms. Hasina on the issue.
One of her aides told The Hindu that Ms Banerjee has said that she is visiting Delhi because it is “a matter between the two countries”.
The aide had told The Hindu that Ms Banerjee’s schedule is “relatively less tight on April 8”.
