India's veteran Foreign Minister S.M. 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."