The Uttar Pradesh Congress on Thursday morning handed over a letter to Governor T V Rajeswar withdrawing support to the three-year-old Mulayam Singh Yadav government.

A Congress delegation, led by its state unit chief Salman Khurshid, met the governor and handed him the letter. The party had extended its support to the Mulayam Singh-led Samajwadi Party in August 2003 following the collapse of the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party-Bharatiya Janata Party government "to bring to power a secular government and to defeat any designs by communal parties to regain power in the state."

On Wednesday night, Congress had announced its decision to withdraw outside support to the Mulayam Singh government as it was encouraging corruption, and had failed to maintain law and order in the state.

The ruling coalition, however, still maintains a comfortable majority in the Assembly, which meets on Thursday for Winter session.