By Manish Chand, IANS,
On Board Air India One : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said the government has “some distance” to travel to evolve consensus on the stalled Teesta water-sharing accord with Bangladesh.
Manmohan Singh said he also reviewed the road map with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the Maldives Thursday for implementing the agreement on boundaries and the two sides will work for a constitutional amendment to formalize the agreement.
“We have had some preliminary discussions. We have some distance to go till we evolve a consensus,” Manmohan Singh told reporters on his way back from the SAARC summit in the Maldives, while alluding to talks he had with West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issue.
The Teesta water-sharing accord could not be signed at the last minute during Manmohan Singh’s visit to Dhaka in September due to opposition from Banerjee.
Apart from the SAARC summit, Manmohan Singh and met all the leaders of South Asian countries, including Sheikh Hasina.
“There was also a brief discussion of the Teesta problem and I mentioned to the prime minister that we will work to build a national consensus so that an agreement can become a realistic proposition,” Manmohan Singh said.