New Delhi: In a significant development in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s policy for cooperative federalism, one of the Modi Sarkar’s leading critics, the Trinamool Congress, is now willing to work with the Centre over the contentious issues of the sharing of Teesta waters and land boundary pact with Bangladesh.
“The previous UPA government had mishandled the two issues (Teesta water-sharing and land boundary pact with Bangladesh). We will be flexible in our stand if the Modi government takes us in confidence in working out details of the two contentious issues,” senior TMC leader Sultan Ahmed told this newspaper.
It may be recalled that former PM Manmohan Singh had tried hard to seal the two pacts to put Indo-Bangladesh ties on a firm footing, but had failed to do so mainly due to the objections raised by West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. “The ball is in the Centre’s court. Let the Centre start playing the ball first,” said Mr Ahmed. The TMC seems to have put the acrimonious election campaign behind in which party leaders had even called Mr Modi a “butcher”.
