Dhaka to reinforce ties with India, NE states: Hasina

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Monday said her government will further reinforce its ties with Tripura, other northeastern states and with India as a whole, Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

Deb talked to Hasina over phone on Monday and congratulated her on being re-elected in general elections. She is set to become Prime Minister for a third straight term.

The ruling Awami League led by Hasina won a landslide victory in Sunday's 11th parliamentary election by winning a record 288 seats out of the 299 parliamentary seats, surpassing its previous election wins.

"The Bangladesh Prime Minister assured me that any issues and projects relating to Tripura, other northeastern states and Indian government would be given priority by her government," Deb told the media.

The Chief Minister said: "I have invited her (Hasina) to visit Tripura immediately after the formation of her new government. She responded positively."

He said Hasina, who visited Agartala in January 2012, congratulated him after he assumed office as Chief Minister on March 9 this year.

"I considered her (Hasina) like my mother," said the 48-year-old Bharatiya Janata Party leader turned Tripura Chief Minister, whose ancestral home still exists in Chandpur in Chittagong division in southeast Bangladesh.

Hasina told Deb that her government would maintain good relations with his government to promote mutual interests.

The Bangladesh Prime Minister helped Tripura during the previous Left Front government's tenure in transporting heavy machinery for a 726 MW Oil and Natural Gas Corp power project in southern Tripura and food grains through her country's territory.

--IANS

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