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Chautala decides to withdraw support to Vajpayee

The Indian National Lok Dal has decided to withdraw support to the 11-month-old Vajpayee government at the Centre in protest against the recent hike in issue prices of wheat, rice, sugar, urea and LPG.

The decision will be ratified by the party's general body meeting at Panipat on February 11, INLD leader and former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala said today.

The withdrawal of support may reduce the BJP-led coalition government, which has the support of 277 MPs in the 544-member Lok Sabha, to a minority. One seat is vacant. The INLD has four members in the house.

Chautala said their decision was final if the government did not withdraw the hike before the Panipat meeting. The INLD general body meeting at Jind late last year had authorised Chautala to decide about continuation of support to the Vajpayee government.

Chautala said he would place the facts before the general body on Thursday to ratify his decision. He said his party which represents farmers, workers and small traders was badly affected by the Union government's decision to raise the issue prices of many PDS commodities and urea and LPG.

Chautala had declared support to the BJP after a meeting with Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal and former Union minister Madan Lal Khurana who was instrumental in securing the INLD support.

The INLD leader was critical of the BJP for not supporting his party's cause in Haryana. As a result the party was losing ground in the state, he said.

Besides, he pointed out that the BJP leaders openly opposed INLD candidates in the November assembly elections both in Delhi and Rajasthan, and named former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma as one of those who campaigned against INLD nominees.

UNI

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