PM’s Dhaka visit: Mamata cries a river on Bangla trip,wont go

Insiders claim Mamata,unhappy with Teesta river water agreement draft,is applying pressure tactics.

Having kept the Centre on tenterhooks in the run-up to Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs two-day visit to Bangladesh from September 6,Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee threw a fresh spanner in the works 48 hours before he leaves. Sources close to her declared on Tuesday that she would not be going with the PM,though in an indication that it may be little more than pressure tactic from the mercurial Mamata,there was no official word from the Chief Ministers Office till late Sunday evening.

Insiders said she was unhappy with the final draft of the Teesta river water agreement,and that her decision not to go had been conveyed to the PMO through proper channels. Mamata would have been among the CMs of four states the others being Assam,Tripura,Mizoram bordering Bangladesh accompanying the PM on the trip.

According to sources,the Trinamool Congress leader is angry because the state had agreed to share up to 25,000 cusecs of water but the agreement talks of sharing 33,000-50,000 cusecs.

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The other important bilateral issue on the agenda is border reorganisation between West Bengal and Bangladesh. Manas Bhunia,state Minister for Water Resources,who was initially supposed to go along with the prime minister but whose trip had already been cancelled,said he would talk to Mamata before commenting.

As recently as August 31,National Security Adviser Shiv Shankar Menon and senior officials of the Union Water Resource Ministry had met Mamata at Writers Buildings and discussed issues that would crop up during the trip. She had also expressed her eagerness for the trip at an August 27 function for an integrated border checkpost.

The Teesta tussle

* West Bengal is concerned about its interests,has irrigation project planned on Teesta waters.

* Modalities on which to work out an agreement had been decided by the Joint River Commission with Dhaka. Given the politics,no one wants to divulge this publicly

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* The final details were supposed to be firmed up during the visit of Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal to Dhaka over this weekend. On Friday,the visit was suddenly cancelled

* Confusion prevails over the fate of the Interim Arrangement now. Ministry officials are silent

* Officials from the ministry though are still slated to accompany PM,keeping hopes alive