RLD also withdraws support from Mulayam govt

Lucknow, Jan 18: Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), an ally of the Mulayam Singh Yadav-led Uttar Pradesh government, today announced to withdraw support from the three-year old government in the state.

''We have decided to withdraw the support,'' an RLD spokesman said in an announcement.

The RLD delegation would meet Governor T V Rajeswar to handover a formal letter in this regard.

The Ajit Singh-led party was providing ''inside'' support to the Samajwadi Party government and had four ministers from its quota.

Earlier, three of the RLD ministers had been withdrawn from the government while the fourth had already resigned in the wake of Dr Kavita Rani murder case.

The RLD's announcement came hours after the Congress submitted a letter to the Governor about the withdrawl of outside support.

RLD has 15 members in the UP assmebly.

The RLD's intentions to withdraw from the ruling dispensation were clear from the day its ministers resigned from the government. The issue was ''poor hike'' in the cane prices announced by the Chief Minister in the recently-concluded Monsoon session. While RLD was demanding a price of Rs 200 per qunital, the government hiked the prices upto Rs 122 per qunital only.

The RLD had maintained a silence in the house but its chief Ajit Singh called a press conference a few days later to announce the resignation of his ministers from the government.

UNI