Lucknow, Feb. 21: Fighting a Congress attempt to impose President’s rule in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav today fired the last weapon in his armoury by withdrawing support to the UPA government at the Centre.

The move, however, is not likely to rock the boat for the Congress-led coalition. Minus the backing of the 38 Samajwadi Party MPs in the Lok Sabha, the UPA enjoys the support of 304 members in a House of 545 — well above the majority mark of 273. But in the Rajya Sabha, the government will be on a sticky wicket.

Sensing this, Mulayam called upon the CPM and the CPI, which have 59 members, to follow in his footsteps. “Their ostensible purpose behind supporting the UPA government at the Centre was to keep the communal forces at bay. Now, the Congress and the BJP are in the same boat,” he said. “Hence, I suggest these parties withdraw support from the UPA government.”

If the Left heeds Mulayam’s appeal — which looks unlikely now — the UPA would be left with 245 members, 28 short of majority.

Mulayam’s announcement, however, was primarily meant to charge up his party, which took a hard knock recently when the Supreme Court disqualified 13 BSP MLAs who had crossed over to the Samajwadi Party.

Earlier in the day, Mulayam told party workers: “We had extended outside support (to the UPA) as a part of our commitment to corner the communal forces. By trying to impose President’s rule, the Congress does not seem to be ashamed of being seen together with the BJP. If you all want, we are now poised to lift that support.”

The crowd responded by roaring “Yes”.

The chief minister then gave a clarion call to fight the Congress to the finish. “See to it that the Congress does not win even a single seat in the state.”

Mulayam recalled the Congress’s “misdeeds” since the seventies and described the UPA rule as “a new era of unwritten emergency”.

He predicted a bleak future for his arch-rivals. “The Congress is devoid of leadership. It is a dead party now.… It has no pockets of influence left. If you are ready to wage a long battle, the Congress will meet its Waterloo here and be wiped out from the Centre as well,” he said.

However, some Samajwadi workers believe President’s rule is inevitable. “It had to end like this. The government was formed with the help of other party MLAs, and hence the SP workers were left high and dry. We need to go home early today as President’s rule would mean a crackdown on us,” said a district general secretary.