Mamata Banerjee leaves for Dhaka to witness signing of Land Boundary agreement

Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday left for Dhaka ahead of signing of documents for operationalising the 1974 Land Border Agreement (LBA) between India and Bangladesh during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's two-day visit starting tomorrow.

"I am leaving for Dhaka today to join the programme on operationalising the long-pending LBA there tomorrow," Banerjee said at a programme at the state Assembly before sheleft for Dhaka. She is scheduled to return to Kolkata tomorrow.

Her trip comes against the backdrop of talks of bonhomie with Modi. Earlier, Banerjee had consented to the LBA which had been pending for long. Parliament had recently passed the historic constitution amendment bill seeking to settle India's long-pending border issue with Bangladesh.

The legislation would operationalise the 1974 India-Bangladesh Land Boundary agreement that provides for exchange of 161 enclaves adversely-held by the the two countries. Modi has cleared a rehabilitation package for West Bengal as part of the Indo-Bangla enclave exchange pact.

Talking to reporters before leaving for Dhaka, the chief Minister, however, did not divulge details about any rehabilitation package on the issue offered by the Centre.