Sources in the IJO told The Financial Express that the Bangladesh government is highly concerned over the Indian move and it is desperately trying to convince it to reconsider the decision.

"The Bangladesh government wants the IJO to function from Dhaka as it will help the country's jute industry to modernise but if the Indian government quits from the organisation then the death of IJO is inevitable and that is the last thing that the Bangladeshi government can wish for," sources said.

It was also learnt that the Bangladeshi central government's jute minister, A K Faizul Haq has expressed deep concern on the matter and wants the Indian government to shift from its present stance. The minister has also decided to send and unofficial envoy from his ministry to the Union ministry of textiles requesting themto reconsider their decision.

Sources said that the IJO crisis may spin-off to a major international issue in the Indo-Bangla relations. "Bangladesh government has taken an initiative in resolving the crisis but a negative attitude from its Indian counterparts will only bitter the bilateral relations between the two countries, which at the moment is not at its best, after Atal Behari Vajpayee took over from I K Gujral," sources said.

India decided to quit the organisation, after its candidate D P Bagchi failed to win the polls for the executive director against Henri L Jason of France. At present, IJO is witnessing a constitutional stalemate as none of two was successful in winning the necessary two third votes of the total members.

Even the 21 importing members countries are unlikely to take the Indian decision in a good spirit. IJO sources said, "Just see the basic stand of India. It has decided to quit an international organisation, which was formed on the basis of international agreement because hiscandidate has failed to win the elections for the top shot. Can any one support India on this issue?".

IJO sources added that the Bangladeshi envoy would also stress on the same point. "The minister has told his envoy to clearly spell it out to the top bosses of the Indian textile ministry and also add that there might have been some fault in the campaign and so their common candidate have failed to garner the votes of importing countries," they said.

Indian jute mill owners explained the cause of Bangladeshi concern. "India have already made major breakthroughs which will help the industry to survive the plastics threat but Bangladesh has not yet. Despite having a better fibre, they are way behind India on the technological front and IJO is the only hope for them," a mill owner said.

Union textiles secretary, Shyamal Ghosh said that India wanted to lead the organisation as it has the necessary expertise in this field.

"We have the maximum expertise in the fields of jute technology both for industrialand the agricultural sector and we felt that our leadership can give the necessary impetus to the organisation," Ghosh said.

The present acting executive director, Henri L Jason, who was also the second candidate for the post said that the every member of IJO is shocked at India's decision and wants the matter to be resolved considering international relations. Under the present situation, the fate of the $41 million dollar jute development programme proposed by IJO and was scheduled to be funded by World Bank, European Union, Asian Development Bank and Common Fund for Commodities has also become uncertain.