New Delhi, March 8: Foreign secretary Shashank left for Dhaka today on a “goodwill” visit that is described in diplomatic circles as an attempt by Delhi to smoothen ties with the Bangladesh National Party led-coalition government.

Shashank will hold wide-ranging talks with his Bangladeshi counterpart, Shamsher Mobin Chaudhury, and other officials and will also call on Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia and foreign minister Mohamad Morshed.

He will meet Bangladeshi intellectuals and think-tanks to discuss how to remove irritants in bilateral ties.

South Block officials could not explain why Shashank needed to visit Bangladesh now, when elections are round the corner and there are many pressing domestic issues to dwell on. Also, both foreign secretaries are due to meet here next month and discuss all outstanding issues.

Shashank is following in the footsteps of Yashwant Sinha who visited Dhaka last year within a month of becoming foreign minister.

Indo-Bangladesh relations have hit a number of highs and lows of late.

Delhi used to believe there are more lows when the BNP is in power — Begum Zia’s party has traditionally adopted an anti-Indian stand to cater to its supporters who often criticise the rival Awami League for toeing a pro-Delhi line.

But Atal Bihari Vajpayee, aware of this perception, made a serious attempt to assure Begum Zia after she assumed power two years ago that India had no favourites in Bangladesh and was ready to deal with whoever was in power there.

But the headway was lost during anti-Hindu clashes across Bangladesh which made hardliners in India persuade the Vajpayee government to take a tough line against Dhaka.

Despite the strains, relations are on the mend now. In October last year, the two sides, for the first time, began serious discussion on a free trade agreement. Bangladesh, despite initial reluctance, backed the South Asian Free Trade Agreement at January’s Saarc summit in Islamabad.

Dhaka was the only government not to sign on the free trade agreement recently at the Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation summit in Phuket; even so, Bangladesh realised it needed to take urgent steps to strengthen economic ties with Delhi.

India wanted Bangladesh to act against insurgents operating against it from its soil as Bhutan did last year.

But it later realised it would be difficult for Dhaka to follow Thimphu’s example entirely.

Instead, Delhi veered around to speaking about Bangladesh taking some confidence-building-measures like handing over some of the 100-odd Indian insurgents in its custody as a mark of its desire to improve ties.

For its part, Bangladesh has been unhappy over India’s move to inter-link the Ganga and Brahmaputra, which it feels would affect it adversely.