India's foreign minister resigns

NEW DELHI (AP) — India's foreign minister resigned Friday ahead of a Cabinet reshuffle by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expected this weekend, a government official said.

The reshuffle is aimed at refurbishing the image of Singh's government tainted by a series of bribery scandals involving several ministers ahead of parliamentary elections due in 2014.

External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, 80, sent his resignation to Singh after heading the ministry for more than three years, the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. Krishna could not be reached for comment.

Krishna is expected to return to his southern home state of Karnataka to strengthen the party organization in state elections due early next year.

The shake-up in New Delhi, expected on Sunday, comes with beleaguered Congress party leaders calling for Rahul Gandhi, the scion of Nehru-Gandhi family, to join the Cabinet. He met the prime minister last week.

Gandhi is the party's star campaigner and presumed prime minister-in-waiting, but has so far avoided a government position.

Singh's coalition splintered after he decided last month to push through a series of economic reforms, including fuel subsidies and letting in foreign retailers. A key ally quit, reducing the government to a minority in parliament, but it is surviving with the support of two powerful regional groups.

Singh's government has a tough two years before the next parliamentary elections, with several ministers facing corruption charges stemming from scandals over the hosting of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the sale of cellphone rights and allocation of coal fields that auditors said lost the country of billions of dollars.