Staff Reporter :Chief Minister of West Bengal Mamata Banerjee arrived in Dhaka on Thursday night on a three-day visit. She landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport boarding an Air India flight at around 9:00pm. State Minister for Foreign Affairs M Shahriar Alam and Indian High Commissioner in Dhaka Pankaj Saran received her.The entourage of Trinomial Congress leader includes ministers, eminent cultural, business and media personalities. She was taken to Sonargaon Hotel in the city where she will be staying.Mamata’s visit has already drawn widespread attention since it was due to her intense opposition that former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh failed to ink the Teesta water-sharing treaty during his Bangladesh trip in September 2011. She was initially on the Indian Premier’s tour party, but pulled out at the eleventh hour. However, Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj talked to Mamata over phone and conveyed greetings over her Bangladesh visit.Meanwhile, before leaving Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, Mamata termed it as a very emotional moment for her as she is visiting Bangladesh to attend the ‘Bhasha Dibas’ event on February 21.”This is a very emotional moment for me…some journeys are more emotional. This is very special. I last visited Bangladesh 17 years ago and this is my first visit after new the government came to power in Paschimbanga in May 2011,” Mamata tweeted before starting for Dhaka citing some lines from a Bangla song.”I’m looking forward to meeting [Prime Minister] Sheikh Hasina and the people of Bangladesh. India and Bangladesh share a special friendship and a special bond,” she messaged in the tweeter.On the other hand, State Minister for Foreign Affairs Md Shahriar Alam in an instant reaction said, “We hope she would reiterate West Bengal’s support to Bangladesh for resolving the pending issues.” “We hope the visit will deepen Bangladesh’s soul-ties with the West Bengal. We also expect it’ll create supportive environment in settling unresolved issues between Dhaka and Delhi,” he said. Mamata will meet President Abdul Hamid at Bangababan at 4pm on Friday while she will have a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina at Ganobhaban on Saturday apart from attending a ‘High Tea’ to be hosted by Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali.She will attend the ‘Amar Ekushey Ujjyapan’ function at Shaheed Minar to pay homage to the martyrs of the Language Movement, and visit the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum during his three-day visit.Mamata along with a 39-member delegation, including 18 officials, will be here at the invitation of the Foreign Minister.The Paschimbanga Chief Minister will be accompanied by its Minister of Urban Development Firhad Hakim, Minister of Tourism, Bratya Basu, Members of Parliament, Deepak Adhikari, Moonmoon Sen, Chief Secretary Sanjay Mitra and other senior officials.Non-official members of her delegation are Harsh Neotia, Shrikant Mohta, Anindya Jana, Indranil Sen, Shibaji Panja, Biswa Majumdar, Suman Chattopadhyay, Janab Asabul, Udit Prasanna Mukherji, Ashok Majumdar, Kingsuk Pramanik, Dipankar Nandy, Pushan Gupta, Durbar Ganguly, Soumya Bandyopadhyay, Pallavi Ghosh, Ujjal Sinha, Rajat Roychowdhury, Joydeb Jana, Agni Roy and Devdeep Purohit.Her entourage also includes eminent business and media personalities. She will address a Business Meet organised by the India-Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry [IBCCI] in association with the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FBCCI] and Indian Chambers of Commerce [ICC], Kolkata, as well as interactions with cultural personalities of both India and Bangladesh.The Chief Minister will also attend a reception to be hosted in her honour by the High Commissioner of India.Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali invited her to attend Feb 21 Language Day programmes.
