BJP sees little gain from Manmohan's Dhaka trip

India's main opposition BJP yesterday said Manmohan Singh's visit to Bangladesh had "not achieved much" due to differences between the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) allies.
It also sought to know how much Indian territory had been given away to Bangladesh from Assam to settle the enclave issue, claiming there is a huge resentment among the people of the state after the visit.
Before leaving for Bangladesh, Prime Minister Manmohan had held a meeting with BJP Parliamentary Party leader LK Advani, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley.
The opposition had issued a statement seeking details of how the enclaves were to be exchanged and cautioned that Indian territory should not be compromised and local sentiments of people at the Indo-Bangla border should not be hurt.
In an interaction with the media here yesterday, in an apparent reference to Paschimbanga Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's opposition to a treaty on the sharing of Teesta river waters, Jaitley said this was a "glaring example" of how differences within UPA have affected India's foreign policy initiatives.
On enclave exchange, he said the government should clearly state what has been done in this regard and share details of the treaties signed.
Many BJP leaders said they feel the government is not keen on sharing details regarding the land boundary treaty.
"There had been no discussion with us on giving land from Assam to Bangladesh...We don't know what they have done," Swaraj said, adding 600 acres of land in Assam had reportedly been given away to the neighbouring country.