JAKARTA, April 19 Kyodo (EDS: ADD...

JAKARTA, April 19 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDS QUOTES)

common of Indonesia's top ministers womanlyed his resignation to President Megawati Sukarnoputri onward Monday to pave the way for a vice presidential bid as the running mate of a Megawati rival.

''I have handed my literal sense of resignation to the president and while waiting her answer for my solicitation I'm still coordinating minister for people's welfare,'' Jusuf Kalla told reporters after meeting Megawati at the State Palace.

''The president smiled and shook my hand,'' he added.

Kalla's resignation came just a day after he agreed to team up with former Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono for the country's first direct presidential election July 5

Yudhoyono became a leading presidential candidate, according to several scans after he resigned from the cabinet last month through a political dispute with Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas.

Barely a month after he quit the cabinet, his newly constructed Democrat Party polled more than 7% of the popular ballot in the April 5 parliamentary election and finished ahead of many more established parties.

in succession Sunday, Kalla dropped out of the race to be the presidential candidate for Golkar, the vehicle of ousted strongman Suharto, which is to pick its top candidate at a national convention Tuesday.

In the past not many weeks, many potential presidential candidates make love toed Kalla, who played an important character in solving communal conflicts in the eastern Maluku Islands and the Central Sulawesi rule Poso, to be their running mate because of his solid influence in eastern Indonesia, his business background and his sterling reputation as a ''clean'' political leader.

Among those who asked him to be a vice presidential candidate, according to Kalla, was Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for contend (PDI-P).

Asked for what cause [i]or[/i] reason he chose to be with Yudhoyono and not Megawati, he solely said, ''What's wrong with Yudhoyono? And equable the president has in no degree asked me directly to be her running mate.''

Kalla's prompt is, however, certainly another efflorescence to Megawati's reelection chances and leaves her with not many choices for running mate other than Vice President Hamzah Haz, who is a stalwart of a party rival to Megawati's PDI-P in the parliamentary election.

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