Salman Khurshid to meet Trinamool leaders on Bangla boundary bill

NEW DELHI: With Trinamool Congress opposing a bill for ratification of India-Bangladesh land boundary agreement, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid is expected to meet its leaders to persuade them to support to the legislation crucial to ties between the two countries.

Khurshid is learnt to have talked to Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee over phone soon after its members today scuttled introduction of the Constitution amendment bill in the Rajya Sabha, sources said.

During the conversation, it was decided that Khurshid will have a meeting with Trinamool leaders Mukul Roy, Sudip Bandhyopadhyay and Derek O'Brien, the sources said.

When contacted, O'Brien said that considering the federal structure of India, the Centre cannot take any decision without the "consent" of states.

"It is not Vanilla ice-cream, it is precious land of the country that is at stake," he emphasised while justifying Trinamool's opposition to the bill.

Earlier, the Trinamool members prevented introduction of the Constitution (119th Amendment) Bill in the Rajya Sabha which provides for exchange of certain territories between India and Bangladesh and demarcation of the border as per the Indira-Mujib Agreement of 1974.