By IANS
Kolkata : Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger Saturday met West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya amid the communists’ clamour against the India-US nuclear deal.
“I am optimistic that a solution will be found and the issue will be settled in the next few months,” Kissinger told reporters at a programme organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) before his meeting with Bhattacharya.
Kissinger and Bhattacharya met for about 45 minutes.
The meeting is significant since the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), to which Bhattacharya belongs, like other Leftist parties is against the deal while a pragmatic West Bengal chief minister is in favour of a good business relationship with the US.
Kissinger also praised the chief minister’s efforts to attract investment from abroad.
On Oct 28, US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. also met Bhattacharya and discussed the India-US nuclear deal.
The Bhattacharya-led ‘Bengal lobby’ of the CPI-M had earlier expressed support for nuclear energy and tie-ups with any country for economic betterment.
Reformist Bhattacharya is keen to establish business ties with the US even though his party ideologically opposes the US foreign policy.