'Modi iterates Teesta assurance'

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and members of visiting delegation of Bangladesh Awami League led by party general secretary and road transport & bridges minister Obaidul Quader at New Delhi on Monday. AL delegation is visiting India for party to party meet on invitation of BJP. Photo: Collected from Tweeter
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi and members of visiting delegation of Bangladesh Awami League led by party general secretary and road transport & bridges minister Obaidul Quader at New Delhi on Monday. AL delegation is visiting India for party to party meet on invitation of BJP. Photo: Collected from Tweeter

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi on Monday assured the visiting Bangladesh Awami League delegation that he was trying to resolve the Teesta river water sharing issue.

The assurance came during a 30-minute meeting with the AL team, led by party general secretary and road transport and bridges minister Obaidul Quader at the Indian PM's official residence, according to a message of Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi.

Referring to Bangladesh's role in providing shelter to the forcibly displaced Rohingyas from their homeland, Rakhine state of Myanmar, the Indian premier said his country wants an early and permanent resolution to the problem, reports BSS.

He lauded Bangladesh's position on this issue and the 'bold and courageous' leadership of his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina for the latter's 'remarkable success in socio-economic development'.

Modi was accompanied by national security adviser Ajit Doval, foreign secretary Vajay K Gokhale, joint secretary (Bangladesh, Myanmar) Sripriya Ranganathan and spokesperson of external affairs ministry Raveesh Kumar.

Obaidul Quader was accompanied by Awami League presidium member Piyush Kanti Bhattacharya and joint general secretaries Mahbub-ul-Alam Hanif, Jahangir Kabir Nanak and Abdur Rahman. Bangladesh High Commissioner to India Syed Muazzem Ali was also present at the meeting.

The Indian prime minister paid tributes to Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman under whose leadership Bangladesh fought and gained independence from Pakistan in 1971.

"In terms of socio-economic development Bangladesh has advanced much ahead of Pakistan," Modi told the Bangladesh delegation in praising Bangabandhu and his daughter Sheikh Hasina. "Look at your country. You are much ahead of Pakistan in socio-economic indicators," he said.

During the meeting held in a cordial atmosphere, Obaidul Quader conveyed to Modi the best wishes from the people of Bangladesh and PM Sheikh Hasina.

Quader arrived in New Delhi on Sunday leading a 19-member high-powered Awami League delegation on a three-day visit to India at the invitation of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Earlier, the delegation visited Lok Sabha.