By IANS,
On Board Air India One: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday said that “provincial sentiments cannot be wished away” and the government would continue to work with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose opposition to the Teesta water accord with Bangladesh led her to drop out of the prime minister’s delegation for his visit to Dhaka.
“I was in touch with Mamata for quite some time,” Manmohan Singh told reporters on board his special aircraft while returning home from a two-day visit to the Bangladesh capital.
He said that the officials concerned had to been told to brief Mamata Banerjee and to seek her guidance on the Teesta issue.
“I was told that it sorted out,” he said and added that Railways Minister Dinesh Trivedi, who is part of Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, had raised objections to it.
National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon was working on getting the agreement done.
“…obviously some other factors (were) at play.
“One learns from ones mistake…We will continue to work with Mamata Banerjee,” he said.
He went on to say that “provincial sentiments cannot be wished away”.
“We are a country of great diversity” and these problems can arise, the prime minister said.