On one hand the Congress party in Gujarat wants to launch an eight-day farmers’ rights agitation across the state from June 1 against the BJP ruled state government, but on the other hand Congress party is in very embarrassing situation as its government in centre is not lifting ban on cotton export that has badly hit the cotton growers in Gujarat.

In such tricky situation Gujarat Congress President Arjun Modhwadia yesterday wrote a letter to Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh requesting him to permit the export of at least 15 lakh bales of cotton immediately. Earlier Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi had written a similar letter to the Prime Minister.

Modhvadia in his letter said unless a quick decision was taken, the cotton crop would go to waste in the open fields once the monsoon set in.

As many as four different delegations have met central ministers and powerful leader in Congress from Gujarat Ahmed Patel in Delhi in last fortnight requesting nod to cotton export. While one delegation was led by Gujarat Congress MP Vitthal Radadia, another delegation was led by Modhwadia himself, two more delegations that visited Delhi with demand to lift ban on cotton export were from cotton ginning associations. However nothing has yielded result, even after repeated assurances by central ministers and Ahmed Patel.

Meanwhile, Modi is on offensive on this issue. In recent farmers rally at Una Modi aggressively talked on this issue receiving great response from the farmers present in rally.

Gujarat Congress has announced to start eight-day farmers agitation in Gujarat from June 1 alleging that the Modi govt serves only the interest of the big corporate houses. Leaders of Gujarat Congress are expecting that their government would announced 15 lakh bales export permission before 1st June, however the announcement has not been made yet.

On the other side Chief Minister Narendra Modi recently said that suppose if the centre decides to lift the ban for 10-15 lakh bales, at this juncture it would benefit only the middle men who have already procured cotton from the farmers at cheaper rate.