The Indian government was trying to reach an internal political consensus regarding the signing of Teesta Water Sharing Agreement, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Sheikh Shahriar Alam told the parliament yesterday.
During a question answer session in the parliament yesterday, Shahriar Alam, in absence of Foreign Minister AH Mahmud Ali, read out a written document of the foreign minister.
He said the new Indian government was considering the Teesta treaty sincerely, and expressed hopes: “The overwhelming majority of the new Indian government may bring a positive result.”
The state minister claimed that Bangladesh had been reminding India about the treaty at every bilateral meetings held with the new Indian government.
To quicken the signing, Awami League government had requested the BJP government to fix the date for next meeting of the Joint River Commission in this regard. Earlier yesterday, Indian External Affair Minister Sushma Swaraj told a press conference in India that her government was positive regarding the Teesta treaty.
“We are trying to reach a consensus with the West Bengal government in this regard,” she said.
However, sources said the previous Indian government, led by the Congress, was also very sincere to sign the treaty, but the outcome was not satisfactory. And the ruling BJP was apparently not in favour of the treaty when they were in opposition during that time.
