The BNP is now in a happy mood having got schedule of Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for a courtesy call on party Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. The party sees Sushma’s Dhaka visit as a scope for ushering a new horizon in relation between the BNP and the BJP on one hand and Bangladesh-India on the other. Just after finalising the schedule, the BNP arranged a press conference on Tuesday midnight (12:30 am) at the party Chairperson’s Gulshan office to inform the media. Khaleda Zia’s press secretary Maruf Kamal Khan Sohel said that a schedule has been finalised for a meeting between the BNP Chief and the Indian Minister for Friday morning. He, however, said the venue and the exact time for the meeting would be informed later.”BNP wants to maintain friendly relationship with India. Khaleda Zia met Sushma in October, 2013 while she had been to New Delhi. The BNP hopes that the ties between the two countries under the new leadership in India would further develop. The meeting between Khaleda and Sushma will usher in a new horizon for consolidating the ties between the people of the two countries,” said Sohel.BNP Vice Chairman Shamsher Mobin Chowdhury and Joint Secretary General Salahuddin Ahmed also attended the press conference. Meanwhile, the party Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said that his party welcomes Sushma’s visit. Describing her visit as ‘positive’, he said, “Sushma is a seasoned politician who has been chosen as Indian External Affairs Minister following the BJP’s formation of government through a landslide victory in a democratic election.” He came up with the remarks while talking to reporters at the party’s Nayapaltan central office on Tuesday. He said that the Indian Minister’s Dhaka visit would play a crucial role in addressing outstanding issues with the neighbouring country, including the border and water sharing issues. He also lauded the new government of India for its effort to strengthen ties with SAARC nations.Sushma arrived Dhaka last night on a three-day visit. During her visit, she will hold talks with her Bangladeshi counterpart AH Mahmood Ali. She will also call on the President and the Prime Minister.Meanwhile, ‘The Indian Express’, a leading Indian daily, reported that the Bangladesh government is lobbying so that Sushma does not meet Khaleda Zia. Mentioning different aspects of the visit, the daily in its Tuesday’s edition reported, “This time, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Awami League’s government has been arguing that the visiting External Affairs Minister need not meet Khaleda Zia as she is not the Leader of Opposition.”However, the Indian side, which is now being represented by a new leadership, wants to touch base with all the political parties, the report said. The Indian daily also referred to different sides of the last year’s cancelled meeting between Khaleda Zia and Indian President Pranab Mukherjee.”A year after Bangladesh’s opposition leader Khaleda Zia did not meet President Pranab Mukherjee during his first ever bilateral visit to the country, the big question in Bangladesh’s power corridors is will she meet the visiting External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj this time?” it reported. “However, going by the past experience, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka is working quietly for a meeting, as this time Khaleda Zia’s office has shown keenness for it.”Khaleda Zia’s decision not to meet Mukherjee in March, 2013 sparked widespread outrage prompting the BNP leaders to regret the decision with the Indian side. Although no official statement of regret was issued, private regrets were expressed to Indian interlocutors, including to Foreign Secretary Sujatha Singh. Khaleda Zia cancelled that meeting with Indian President due to a hartal on that day called by BNP’s key ally Jamaat-e-Islami.
