India’s foreign minister quits ahead of reshuffle

India’s veteran Foreign Minister SM Krishna announced his resignation Friday in a move that clears the way for a long-awaited reshuffle of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s beleaguered government. The gaffe-prone Krishna, whose political career stretches back nearly half a century, said he wanted to make way for a younger generation while a senior member of the main ruling Congress party said he would be playing a leading role in an upcoming election campaign in his traditional fiefdom of Karnataka. “I am a loyal party worker,” the 80-year-old Krishna said in brief comments on the NDTV news channel. “I will continue to work for the Congress party. I am making way for younger people.” The resignation takes effect immediately and a senior official in the prime minister’s office said Krishna has cancelled a scheduled visit to Laos, where he was to have accompanied Singh, who is also aged 80. Krishna was appointed foreign minister in 2009 after Singh was re-elected prime minister. It was his first position in cabinet after having held a host of senior positions in the state government of Karnataka since the 1960s. He served as chief minister of the southern state from 1999 to 2004. “He wants to go back to his home state and work for the Congress party,” said a senior Congress leader in New Delhi. “He has a stronghold in state politics and the Congress can win the election if he works for the party in the state.”