Mulayam chairs late-night emergency cabinet meet

Lucknow, Jan 9 (UNI) Hours after Ajit Singh withdrew his Rastriya Lok Dal (RLD) from the ruling dispensation in Uttar Pradesh, members of the Mulayam Singh cabinet tonight huddled into an emergency cabinet meeting chaired by the Chief Minister.

The meeting, earlier scheduled for 1100 hrs tomorrow, was called tonight, raising speculations about the move the CM was likely to take following the withdrawl of RLD quota ministers from the state government.

In a sudden development leading to a political crisis ahead of the crucial assembly poll, three ministers belonging to the RLD this afternoon resigned from the three-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav government in UP.

However, the ruling Samajwadi party claimed that the resignations would not affect the government and it will complete its term.

SP general secretary and state PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav told mediapersons here the government enjoys an absolute majority in the assembly.

''Although we do not know the reason behind the decision of the RLD, the state government has done enough for the farmers and the cane price is much more here than in other states,'' Mr Yadav claimed.

Earlier, RLD supremo Ajit Singh announced that a letter about the resignation of its ministers would be sent to the Chief Minister, asserting that RLD's alliance with the SP ''is over''.

Asked if his party would continue to support the ruling dispensation, he said the RLD executive next week would decide on the issue. ''The UP polls are due shortly and there is no assembly session in the near future. Therefore, the issue of continuation of support has no meaning.'' The RLD took the step to register its protest over the 'marginal' hike in State Advisory Price (SAP) of sugarcane announced by the CM in the recently-concluded monsoon session of the assembly.

While the RLD had demanded the SAP to be Rs 200 per quintal, the government had hiked it to Rs 122 per quintal.

The ministers, who handed in their resignations, are: Mr Virendra Singh (Animal Husbandary) and Mr Kokab Hamid (Tourism), both of the cabinet rank, and minister of state Swami Omvesh (Cane development).

Irrigation and Flood Commission chairperson Anuradha Chaudhury, who is a Lok Sabha member and enjoys the rank of a cabinet minister, also submitted her resignation.

Mr Singh said the decision to tender resignations was final. ''We will not budge from our stand,'' he maintained.

Mr Singh also asked the SP MLAs to resign from the assembly in February when the term of the House expires after five years.

UNI