Friends no more

In what began as a routine Cabinet reshuffle has overnight snowballed into a critical situation where two of the NDA Government8217;s allie...

In what began as a routine Cabinet reshuffle has overnight snowballed into a critical situation where two of the NDA Government8217;s allies, Ajit Singh8217;s Rashtriya Lok Dal RLD has pulled out and Mamata Bannerjee8217;s Trinamool Congress is back to where it was 8212; still licking its wounds.

While the RLD supported the NDA Government from outside, its only member in the Union Cabinet, Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh resigned yesterday amid growing media speculation that he would be divested of his portfolio for criticising the Government while in office.

At a press conference this morning, Singh claimed he pipped the Government by handing in his resignation accusing the Centre for its 8216;8216;anti-farmers policies.8217;8217; The former minister said despite his repeated pleas, the Government agreed to reduce the interest on the loans pending against farmers by only 20 per cent.

He alleged the problems of the farmers had aggravated during the tenure of the Vajpayee Government. Party general secretary Trilok Tyagi justified Singh8217;s resignation saying, 8216;8216;The Government gave over Rs 13,500 crore to UTI to help investors recover their money but it failed to provide any concession to farmers in the country.8217;8217;

Singh said while the PM did not talk to him about a change, he had certainly conveyed to Vajpayee if there was any change in his portfolio, he would not stay in the Cabinet.

On his party8217;s continued support to the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh, Singh said all five ministers in Mayawati8217;s Cabinet had resigned and a decision to pull out support of 14 RLD MLAs would be taken within three-four days after he met all the office-bearers.

8216;8216;I cannot say anything about withdrawal of support to the Mayawati Government as yet,8217;8217; said Singh, 8216;8216;whatever steps are to be taken will be done after taking party MLAs and office bearers into confidence.8217;8217; Twelve MLAs including four ministers 8212; Kokab Hamid, Aanuradha Chaudhary, Thakur Tejpal Singh and Swami Omvesh attended the meeting held in Singh8217;s house.