Kids will be brought back, Krishna assures grandparents

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The grandparents of the two children forced to stay in Norway, away from their parents on Tuesday met External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna who assured them that they brother and sister would be repatriated 'at any cost'.

Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat accompanied the grandparents to Krishna's office, a day after they began a four-day sit-in protest over the issue.

The grandparents told reporters that the minister had assured them that the government would get the kids back to India 'at any cost'.

Monotosh Chakraborthy, the grandfather, said the special Indian envoy, M. Ganapathi, secretary (West), sent to Norway to resolve the case was returning India on Wednesday.

Karat said the details of Ganapthi's meetings in Oslo would be known only when he returns.

The CPI-M leader said that the minister was of the view that the envoy's meetings in Norway were 'positive'.

In Oslo, Ganapthi met Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Store and urged him to hasten the return of three-year-old Abhigyan and one-year-old Aishwarya.

They are the children of Anurup and Sagarika Bhattacharya, an NRI couple living in Stavanger, Norway, and were taken under protective care by Barnevarne (Norwegian Child Welfare Services) last May on the ground that they were not looked after properly by their parents.