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Congress withdraws support to Rabri

The 29-member Congress Legislature Party in Bihar today formally withdrew support to the Rabri Devi government.

A release of the All-India Congress Committee today announced the party's decision to withdraw support to the RJD government after the Congress Working Committee accepted the recommendation of the Motilal Vora committee, which went into the issue.

The initial indications are that the Rashtriya Janata Dal government will be able to muster a simple majority even after the pullout by the Congress.

In the 324-member Bihar Legislative Assembly, the RJD, which had the support of about 180 members, is now reduced to about 150. But Congress sources admitted that this might not lead to the government's fall if the ruling party does not split.

The release said the CWC at last night's meeting considered at length the Vora committee's report recommending withdrawal of support to the Rabri Devi government and decided to accept it.

Sources said the decision had been conveyed to RJD president Laloo Prasad Yadav in Patna this evening. The question of informing the state governor did not arise since the party had not informed him before deciding to extend support to the beleaguered state government last year, they said.

The release said the three-member committee headed by Motilal Vora, Mohsina Kidwai and Santosh Mohan Dev toured Bihar to assess the political situation in the state after the recent Lok Sabha election.

"The near-unanimous opinion of all Congress workers is that the time has come for the Congress party to discontinue the alliance with the RJD. The working committee last night gave its stamp of approval to the decision."

Relations between the Congress and the RJD had been stormy from the beginning with the state unit opposing the alliance tooth and nail even before the general election. The state unit was worried about the anti-incumbency factor and the fallout of the many corruption cases against Yadav and his party colleagues.

With the combine securing just 11 of the 54 Lok Sabha seats in the state, pressure was building within the Congress to end the alliance.

The RJD is virtually reconciled to severing ties with the Congress since the party felt the combine could not attract the upper-caste votes and this social section voted en bloc for the Janata Dal (United)-Bharatiya Janata Party combine. In fact, RJD leaders have been openly saying that the Congress, if it had contested on its own, would have cut into the upper-caste votes of the opposition and helped the RJD more.

UNI

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