Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina's India visit gets further delayed

NEW DELHI: The much-anticipated visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to India is likely to be delayed further, according to highly placed sources.

“Both the Prime Ministers, Narendra Modi and Hasina, have been busy and she herself had been very busy with meetings and WEF at Davos. So, we have not finalised any date as of now,” a source was quoted to have said.

Asked, if the visit would be happening sometime in February as expected, the source reportedly said, “We are still not sure about it. We may have a meeting next week and work out the dates.”

Hasina was earlier expected to leave for New Delhi on 18 December to discuss a wide range of bilateral issues with her Indian counterpart Modi, but the plan got postponed.

The postponement had come amid speculation in the media in Dhaka that it was not a suitable time to discuss Teesta water sharing issue given the preoccupation of the Indian government post-demonetisation.

A source in the Prime Minister's office in Dhaka and three Awami League policymakers had in December said the Teesta issue requires the consent of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is protesting the NDA'S government's demonetisation move.

Since Mamata has overtly expressed her dissatisfaction, the Bangladesh administration, keeping everything in mind, realised that it was not a suitable time to discuss the Teesta issue.

In October, Modi had met Hasina on the sidelines of BRICSBIMSTEC outreach summit in Goa. At the invitation of Hasina, Modi visited Bangladesh in June 2015.