US diplomat plays down Karat146;s comment

Karat was apparently referring to Jardine8217;s meeting with Siddiqullah Chowdhury, the Jamiat Ulama-e- Hind8217;s state secretary, when she said that a US diplomat had met a senior Jamiat leader to support the anti-Left platform in the state.

Jardine had visited Chowdhury on February 24 at Jamiat headquarters in Kolkata. He said it was a courtesy call, but sources close to Jardine claimed he met Chowdhury to ascertain the strength of fundamental forces in West Bengal, which is a global concern for the US.

Jardine maintained that it was needless to create a diplomatic event over incidents such as Nandigram and the US had nothing to do with such incidents. 8220;It is a domestic issue and has to be resolved domestically. It makes no sense to accuse the US in such a problem,8221; Jardine said.

However, this would not affect the momentum of the growing trade ties between West Bengal and the US a 12- member US trade delegation led by USTR Susan Schwab would meet West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Saturday.