New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has snubbed the Prime Minister by deciding not to accompany him on his visit to Bangladesh.
Sources say she decided to call off the visit because of disagreements with the Centre over the water sharing agreement of River Teesta with Bangladesh.
Sources in Writers Building have told CNN-IBN that Mamata is upset after the Centre agreed to provide 8 thousand additional of the river water to Bangladesh than what was discussed with her.
Mamata feels the treaty will adversely affect the five districts in North West Bengal.
Serious differences over sharing of the Teesta river's waters with Bangladesh have made Mamata Banerjee back out from accompanying Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Dhaka on Tuesday.
Banerjee and four other Chief Ministers of states bordering Bangladesh were supposed to be part of the PM's entourage on September6, 7 - a visit during which several historic agreements between the two countries are scheduled to be signed.
India is learnt to have committed to sharing 50 per cent of the Teesta river's water with Bangladesh.
But sources in the Trinamool Congress maintain that the Centre had promised West Bengal that it would only release 25 per cent of water from the dam over the Teesta to Bangladesh.
Sources say that the final draft agreement has not put any cap over the 25 per cent sharing limit.
This essentially means that during the lean seasons when there is no rainfall, more than 25 per cent of water has to be released to ensure that Bangladesh gets its 50 per cent share of river water. The matter was fiercely debated at the CCPA meeting held last Friday and National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon had also met Mamata Banerjee to sort out the issue. But Banerjee is reportedly miffed with the final draft which she feels will adversely five North Bengal districts which are dependent on the river.
The question mark over Mamata Banerjee's visit to Dhaka is the first instance where cracks between the Congress and its biggest ally in the UPA 2 government has come to the fore. For the Centre, the stakes are high as far as the PM's visit to Bangladesh is concerned. But for Banerjee, it is a commitment to her people that is primary. The gap seems unbreachable, at least for now.
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