BJP MP Arjun Singh writes to Mamata, complains about Centre's jute policy

Days after he slammed the Centre for neglecting Bengals jute industry, senior BJP leader and MP Arjun Singh on Friday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to intervene in the raw jute price cap issue that is affecting the sector.He also alleged that the Centres jute policy is a flawed one.

Days after he slammed the Centre for "neglecting" Bengal's jute industry, senior BJP leader and MP Arjun Singh on Friday wrote to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, urging her to intervene in the raw jute price cap issue that is ''affecting'' the sector.

He also alleged that the Centre's jute policy is a ''flawed'' one. ''I have written to chief ministers of five states – West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Assam, and Tripura - requesting them to flag the issue of capping raw jute prices. The entire jute industry is suffering because of it," he said.

Singh also stated that he will raise the issue during Union Home Minister Amit Shah's likely visit to West Bengal next week.

''The issue of raw jute prices is affecting the entire industry. The Centre's jute policy is a flawed one. I have been raising this issue and also want the chief minister of West Bengal to intervene in it,'' the BJP state vice-president said.

He had on Monday threatened to hit the streets if the issue was not resolved at the earliest.

Singh had also supported Banerjee's demand to remove the price cap on raw jute in the open market, as the current market-driven prices favour farmers.

The sector regulator had capped the price of raw jute for mills at Rs 6,500 per quintal when the market price was over Rs 7,000.

This became a contentious issue as mills that consume the maximum amount of the golden fibre for manufacturing sacks meant for foodgrain packaging could not procure the raw material at the officially set price.

Singh had, however, ducked queries about rejoining his former party, the Trinamool Congress.

''You have asked a million-dollar question, and only time can answer it… I have only raised an issue concerning the people,'' he had said on Thursday.

Singh, one of the prominent Hindi-speaking leaders of the TMC, joined the saffron camp just ahead of the 2019 general elections and went on to win the Barrackpore Lok Sabha seat.