A day after he wrote a letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, seeking her intervention in the raw jute price capping issue, BJP MP Arjun Singh was on Saturday called to Delhi. The development comes in the backdrop of Singh relentlessly “targeting” the Centre for allegedly neglecting the jute industry's interest in West Bengal. Worried over Singh's receiving support from a section of Trinamool Congress leaders and growing proximity with his former party, the BJP central leadership in an effort to control the damage called Singh to the national capital to hold a meeting with Union textiles minister Piyush Goyal. Before leaving for Delhi on Saturday, Singh told reporters, “I received a call from the Union textiles minister (for the meeting). I don't know whether this has been arranged by the central party leadership, but my aim is to save the jute industry in West Bengal. It is a big industry here. If the industry suffers and people hold the Centre responsible for it, then why they would support us in the future? Why will they vote for me if I cannot save the industry?” Asked whether he would join TMC, Singh said, “I don't want to say anything on this. I have raised a pertinent issue concerning the people of my constituency. I have only raised an issue that concerns my state.” Singh in a letter to Banerjee on Friday urged her to intervene in the raw jute price capping issue, which is “affecting” the sector while terming the Centre’s jute capping policy a “flawed” one. “I have written to the 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,” Singh had said. TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said, “This shows the BJP and the Centre do not give importance to Bengal or issues concerning the state. He has been called (to Delhi) after he wrote a letter to the Chief Minister. The Centre came out of its slumber after he reached out to Mamata Banerjee. It's clear that they don't want to lose another MP, and thus, this development took place.”
