Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991 TAG: 9103061159
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW DELHI, INDIA LENGTH: Short
Shekhar made the surprise announcement in a speech to Parliament after opposition members bitterly criticized him for running a "puppet" government controlled by "puppeteer" Gandhi.
Gandhi, who heads the country's largest party, has made a series of ill-disguised power plays in recent weeks. His Congress Party boycotted Parliament on Tuesday and today in a dispute over alleged police surveillance of his official residence on the outskirts of the capital.
Shekhar said he asked President Ramaswamy Venkataraman to arrange for new elections, instead of trying to patch together another minority government. "The president has assured me that he will make a decision within 24 hours," Shekhar told reporters outside the presidential palace.
Shekhar, 63, who took office Nov. 10, had needed Congress Party support to remain in power. Without it, his party was given no chance of passing any legislation.
"This house cannot continue as an honest legislature," Shekhar said as he announced his resignation, his voice cracking.
"I cannot run the government in keeping with their [the Congress Party's] behavior. Being betrayed is not bad, but to betray is bad."
Shekhar took over as prime minister after helping to engineer the downfall of V.P. Singh, the prime minister from the Janata Dal party who succeeded Gandhi in late 1989. Shekhar leads a socialist splinter faction of Janata Dal.
by CNB