NEW DELHI: PepsiCo India will withdraw its case against farmers in Gujarat after a social media backlash and attacks by political parties that led to pressure from its New York and Dubai offices to resolve the issue quickly. The move followed discussions with the government, it said.The company had sued nine farmers in Gujarat for alleged intellectual property “rights infringement” on grounds that they “illegally” grew its registered potato variety used to make Lay’s chips.The India arm of the US-based beverages and snacks maker had “agreed to withdraw cases against farmers after discussions with the government”, it said in a release on Thursday. A company spokesperson added in an emailed statement: “We are relying on the said discussions to find a longterm and amicable resolution of issues around seed protection.”ET had reported on April 29 that the US company’s top management at US headquarters and its Asia-Pacific office in Dubai had expressed concern over the fallout. “Headquarters has asked PepsiCo India to resolve the issue at the earliest and work as a team,” a senior executive aware of developments had told ET.On Wednesday, Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel had said the state government was working on an out-of-court settlement of cases filed by PepsiCo against the farmers.PepsiCo had sought damages of Rs 1.05 crore from each of them. Over 190 activists had come out in support of the farmers facing lawsuits and requested the union government to ask PepsiCo India to withdraw its “false” cases against them.The company was left with little option, said brand expert and social commentator Santosh Desai.“PepsiCo should have been mindful about the consequences of what they did in the first place,” Desai said. “This was a bad move, and when you make a mistake as big as that, you have to correct it as quickly as possible. PepsiCo didn’t have an option but to withdraw the cases.”PepsiCo’s decision to sue the farmers notched up a reach of 14 million on Twitter, with 18 million impressions and over 5,000 conversations in the top five cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Bengaluru, according to a social media tracking agency. The #BoycottPepsi hashtag on Twitter achieved a reach of 14 million, 39 million impressions and 10,800 conversations, it added. Another hashtag #WeDontWantThisJunk gathered Twitter buzz of 86,000, and 182,000 impressions.PepsiCo’s statement said it was “compelled” to take judicial recourse to protect its registered variety and that from the very start it had offered an amicable settlement to the farmers. The statement added that the company remains “deeply committed” to the thousands of farmers it works with across the country, and toward ensuring adoption of best farming practices. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress leaders had tweeted last weekend against the company’s decision to sue the farmers.“I am giving an ultimatum to Pepsi India to withdraw cases against Indian farmers in the next 72 hours otherwise we will start a campaign to boycott all PepsiCo products in India,” Tajinder Pal Singh Bagga, spokesperson of the Delhi unit of the BJP had tweeted.Congress leader Ahmed Patel tweeted: “Pepsi’s decision to take Gujarat’s potato grower farmers to court is ill-advised and brazenly wrong. It is in violation of the farmer’s rights under the PPVFR Act.” Patel’s tweet added that the state government “shouldn’t keep its eyes shut”, adding: “Corporate interest cannot dictate what our farmers must or mustn’t cultivate.”Swadeshi Jagran Manch head Ashwani Mahajan had also accused PepsiCo of “extortion”, and had called the company’s move “illegal and unethical”.Last week, PepsiCo had offered to withdraw the cases with the caveat that the farmers stop producing the FC5 variety. The farmers had sought time till June 12 to respond.