The Lok Sabha on Thursday witnessed rare camaraderie on passage of a bill for ratification of historic land boundary agreement between India and Bangladesh, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi displaying political acumen to reach out to Congress president Sonia Gandhi to personally thank her for her party's support to push constitutional amendment legislation through the Lower House.
Unmindful of the personal attacks facing directly from Sonia Gandhi and her party vice president son Rahul, Modi also thanked Congress’s leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and the other leaders given each and every party's whole hearted support for the 1974 vintage agreement between the two countries which was not vetted by India till date.
Modi later spoke to the Chief Ministers of the States which share boundary with Bangladesh, and thanked them for their support to the bill which seeks settle the boundary issues with Bangladesh. Prime Minister spoke to West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Assam’ Tarun Gogoi, Tripura’s Manik Sarkar, Meghalaya's Mukul Sangma and Mizoram's Lalthanhawla.
The Prime Minister also spoke to Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and apprised her of the “landmark” development, conveying his greetings to the people of Bangladesh “on this landmark occasion".
All the 331 members present in Lok Sabha voted in favour of the bill in a rare unanimity, a day after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha. As there were some changes made in the bill, it will be placed in the Rajya Sabha again on Monday.
“My thanks to all the political parties for their cooperation, as also to the states of Assam, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal. This reflects the collective will of the nation to build constructive relations with our neighbours,” Modi tweeted later.
Earlier, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj announced a package of Rs 3,008 crore to West Bengal in the Lok Sabha for rehabilitation of those settled in Bangladesh enclaves located in India. This was in lieu of the support that the Trinamool Congress extended to the passage of bill.
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