Kolkata: National Security Adviser Shiv
Shankar Menon on Wednesday met West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to brief her on the strategy of bilateral discussion
during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh`s two-day visit to Bangladesh.
Banerjee and chief ministers of four other states
bordering Bangladesh would accompany the Prime Minister during
the visit starting on September six.
Since Banerjee would go to Dhaka directly from Kolkata
instead of joining the PM`s delegation in Delhi, the briefing
regarding the strategy of bilateral discussion was necessary
as instructed by the PMO, the CM secretariat sources said.
Union Water Resources Secretary D V Singh and senior
officials of central intelligence agencies based here also
accompanied Menon during the half-hour meeting with the CM.
Prior to meeting Banerjee, Menon held discussion
with Chief Secretary Samar Ghosh at the state secretariat in
which he is understood to have discussed the problem of
trans-border crimes along the Indo-Bangla border and the
Maoist issue.
Menon later called on state Governor M K Narayanan
at the Raj Bhavan.
Singh’s maiden visit to Dhaka is expected to seal
accords on two long-pending issues of land boundary and
sharing waters of Teesta, a major river system shared by India
and Bangladesh.
PTI
