Mamata leaves Dhaka

West Bengal (Pashchimbanga) Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has left Dhaka after witnessing the exchange of land boundary agreement (LBA) documents, and the launch of two new bus services that kickstart a new era of connectivity between India and Bangladesh. State Minister M Shahriar Alam saw her off at the airport at about 9:40pm, just a day after her arrival ahead of the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. She was part of Modi’s official entourage but she came separately and stayed in another hotel. Modi and his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina along with Banerjee flagged off Kolkata-Agartala bus service via Dhaka, and Dhaka-Shillong-Guwahati bus service. They also witnessed the exchange of instrument for implementing the LBA on which she tweeted before leaving Dhaka. “68 years after independence, brothers and sisters of Chhitmahal have become free again. My best wishes to all,” she said on the microblogging site. But she has been resisting Dhaka and New Delhi from reaching a deal on sharing Teesta River waters. Spotlight fell on her on Saturday afternoon when Modi met her separately at his hotel, before leaving for the Prime Minister’s Office to meet Hasina. Influential Indian newspaper ‘The Hindu’, citing officials, called this meeting ‘unprecedented’, as it was held between a chief minister of a country with her prime minister in another country. The newspaper termed her “the 'mini state head' in Dhaka”. Modi, however, addressed the water issue in his joint statement at the prime minister’s office. He said a “fair solution” for sharing Teesta and Feni rivers was possible with the support of the states. He believed rivers should not become a source of discord between the two “fellow travellers” on the road to development, according bdnews24.com.