Speaking to the people at Wangchang Gewog in Paro, yesterday, the PDP president, Tshering Tobgay said the party saw it as being important to inform the people about the country’s “weakening relationship” with India.
He said that BBS had reported PDP would not talk about Bhutan-India relations while campaigning following DPT’s request, but that PDP had never said that. The President said the party saw it as being vital to inform people about Bhutan’s relation with India.
“We said in the press conference that it was important during the campaigns to speak and inform the people about the relations between India and Bhutan. We also gave a written press release in English and Dzongkha, but the BBS report was based on the Dzongkha press release,” said Tshering Tobgay.
He said he was deeply concerned about the “weakening friendship” between Bhutan and India. Tshering Tobgay believes that the friendship which had been strengthened by the Monarchs had started to decline after the first democratic government came into power 5 years ago.
He says the withdrawal of LPG and kerosene subsidies by the Indian Government were indications of the strain in the relation.
BBS says the report on PDP not talking about Bhutan-India relations was based on a Dzongkha Press Release from the People’s Democratic Party. The PDP President told BBS after the story was broadcast, that the Dzongkha press release was an unofficial version and had not been intended to be sent to BBS.
