
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 15, 1990                   TAG: 9007150144
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NEW DELHI, INDIA                                LENGTH: Short

RESIGNATIONS SPARK CRISIS IN INDIA

Prime Minister V.P. Singh on Saturday offered his resignation to his party's leader, who later said he had rejected it.

Singh offered to resign amid a power struggle that threatened his eight-month-old minority government, which has been troubled by separatist violence in the states of Kashmir and Punjab and heightened tensions with Pakistan.

Singh submitted his resignation to S.R. Bommai, president of his Janata Dal party, after three Cabinet ministers resigned Friday.

The crisis was caused by the reappointment of Om Prakash Chautala as chief minister of the state of Haryana, which borders New Delhi.

Chautala was forced to resign in May after several violent deaths and accusations of ballot fraud in an election he was contesting in the Haryana state legislature.

Three members of Singh's Cabinet resigned Friday night to protest the return of Chautala. They are Tourism Minister Arun Nehru, Energy Minister Arif Mohammad Khan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Satpal Malik.

They were joined Saturday by the minister of state for home affairs, Subodh Sahay. - The New York Times

by CNB