Krishna downplays Prime Minister's remarks on Bangladesh

New Delhi, Jul 4 (PTI) Downplaying that the Indian
Prime Minister's controversial remarks on Bangladadeshis will
have any impact on his visit to Dhaka from Wednesday, External
Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Monday said there will be no
need for "damage repair" and that Manmohan Singh is a
"consistent champion" of close Indo-Bangaldesh ties.
"I think there is no damage repair in the sense... The
Prime Minister has always held and he is one of the consistent
champions of close Indo-Bangaldesh relationship," Krishna said
when asked if he would have to damage the repair during his
trip to Bangladesh following Singh's remarks that 25 percent
of Bangladeshis were anti-Indian.
Defending Singh, Krishna said the Prime Minister was
himself looking forward to his trip to Bangladesh on September
6 and 7 and that he had "deep and abiding friendship" for
people of Bangladesh and their government.
During the interaction with the editors earlier this
week, Singh had said "at least 25 per cent of the population
of Bangladesh swear by the Jamiat-ul-Islami and they are very
anti-Indian and they are in the clutches, many times, of the
ISI."
Asked if the announcement of the Prime Minister's visit
to Bangladesh was aimed at mollifying that country, Krishna
said Singh's visit had been on the cards and on Monday it was
only confirmed.