Indian ruling coalition braced for resignations

September 21, 2012 - Updated 331 PKT

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NEW DELHI: India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh faced a crunch day on Friday in his bid to drive through economic reforms, with a one-time coalition ally set to formally withdraw support from his beleaguered government. Barring an unexpected last-minute compromise, six ministers from the regional Trinamool party were to resign their posts in New Delhi and its 19 lawmakers will end their uneasy alliance inside the coalition, which came to power in 2009. The move will leave Singh's Congress party running a minority government, dependent on outside support from other regional parties and vulnerable to falling before the scheduled date for the next national elections in 2014. "We have enough friends and we will continue working for the greater good of the economy," reformist Finance Minister P. Chidambaram told reporters on Thursday, indicating Congress had no intention of compromising. Years of tension between Congress and Trinamool exploded last week after Singh's government announced a string of reforms including allowing foreign supermarkets into the retail sector and hiking the price of subsidised diesel.