India, Feb. 13 -- As the first reports came in of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party's comfortable victory in the general election on Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched outreach to Dhaka to rebuild bilateral ties by telling BNP chief Tarique Rahman that India stands ready to strengthen relations and work for regional peace and progress.

The Indian side now faces the task of resetting bilateral relations, which plummeted to their lowest point in more than a decade under the caretaker administration led by Muhammad Yunus, by working with the BNP, whose past stints in power were characterised by uneasy ties with New Delhi.

Modi was among the first world leaders to congratulate Rahman as unofficial results showed the BNP in the lea...