The battle lines have been drawn in Bangladesh against India's proposed Tipaimukh dam with opposition leader Khaleda Zia accusing the Sheikh Hasina government of hatching a foreign conspiracy and blessing a long march against the dam.

Zia alleged at a rally on Sunday that India was building the dam step by step, contravening a promise its Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made to his counterpart Sheikh Hasina at a meeting on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit that New Delhi would do nothing to hurt Dhaka's interests.