Thursday, June 2 2005 17:05 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress has said Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, whose sack has been demanded by the NDA (National Democratic Alliance), cannot be dropped from the Government because of his party's crucial support to the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) coalition.

"Dismantling the Government......because he is supporting the Government. You cannot do it," Defence Minister and Leader of the House in Lok Sabha Pranab Mukherjee told NDTV channel in the "Walk the Talk" programme.

He was asked whether dropping Laloo Yadav would have meant dismantling the Government.

Mukherjee said, "If you have to run a coalition Government you cannot drop Laloo Prasad who is having 24 members as you could not drop me."

"And when you know fully well that it was also not possible for Vajpayeeji to drop George Fernandes.......we insisted on it, but thereafter we reduced our demand," he said.

The Minister said, that whenever he used to speak in Lok Sabha sometimes the Congress-led Opposition used to walk out or remain silent. "We did not ask him any questions. But we did not go for disruptions," he said.

Mukherjee said the situation in Lok Sabha became very difficult from the point of floor management when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came amidst periodical disruptions and said, "You cannot have peace if Laloo Prasad is in the Government".