'Efforts on to ratify deal'

India yesterday said efforts were on for building a consensus on a bill to ratify the land boundary agreement with Bangladesh, which could not be placed at the Indian parliament on Monday.
Replying to a question at a media briefing, the spokesman for Indian External Affairs Ministry said External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid was talking to different political parties to evolve a consensus.
His remarks came two days after Trinamool Congress and Asom Gana Parishad lawmakers had torpedoed Khurshid's bid to introduce the constitution amendment bill in the Rajya Sabha, the upper House of the Indian parliament.
The Trinamool Congress and an AGP member had repeatedly made efforts in the House on Monday to scuttle the introduction of the bill, after which junior Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajeev Shukla said "the bill has been deferred".