Shivshankar Menon, Sujatha Singh to visit Bhutan

They will prepare the ground for Tobgay’s first visit to India as PM

August 07, 2013 01:33 am | Updated November 16, 2021 09:01 pm IST - NEW DELHI:

National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon will head for Thimphu along with Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh to prepare the ground for Tshering Tobgay’s first visit to India after becoming Prime Minister of Bhutan. Soon after taking over as Foreign Secretary last week, Ms. Singh had said Thimphu would be her first foreign destination, symbolising the importance India attached to its immediate neighbourhood, especially Bhutan.

Official sources here confirmed a Bhutanese Foreign Ministry statement about Mr. Menon joining Ms. Singh for the first high-level India-Bhutan talks after bilateral ties were blemished by India’s withdrawal of subsidy on cooking gas and kerosene right in the middle of Bhutan’s general elections.

Mr. Tobgay’s party won the elections amid speculation that subsidy withdrawal leading to increase in gas cylinder and kerosene prices was India’s punishment to the then ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) for breaking bread with the Chinese.

The Ministry of External Affairs denied this was the case. It suggested the withdrawal of subsidy took place because of a misunderstanding with the Petroleum Ministry. Why would India want to sour ties with the DPT, a formidable force in Bhutan politics, which got 45 per cent of votes in the first round when subsidy was in place, sources asked.

Besides meeting new Foreign Minister Rinzin Dorje, Mr. Menon and Ms. Singh will interact with Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Pema Gyamtsho, who was Agriculture Minister in the previous government.

Ms. Singh had chosen to close the chapter by calling the one-month subsidy suspension an “unfortunate technical lapse.” But the impression that some irritant of a strategic nature had cropped up between the two countries appeared difficult to dispel though this visit will see both sides focussing on bilateral business, including a new fund-raising model for the massive hydroelectricity projects being planned in Bhutan.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.