India's foreign minister resigns: government sources

NEW DELHI: India's veteran Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna resigned on Friday, senior government officials said, clearing the way for a long-awaited cabinet reshuffle.

"The foreign minister has resigned," an official in Krishna's ministry told AFP on condition of anonymity. He did not give a reason for the resignation.

Krishna has cancelled a scheduled visit to Laos, where he was to accompany Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, another senior official in the prime minister's office told AFP.

The 80-year-old Krishna, a member of the main ruling Congress party, was appointed foreign minister in 2009 after holding a host of positions in the state government of southern Karnataka since the 1960s.

Krishna hit the headlines in 2010 when he read out parts of the Portuguese foreign minister's speech at a meeting of the United Nations Security Council.

Widespread reports have said that Singh is on the verge of shuffling his ministerial team with Rahul Gandhi, the son of the slain prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, widely tipped to win a seat in cabinet.