JAKARTA, March 12 Kyodo Indonesia...

JAKARTA, March 12 Kyodo

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri accepted the resignation of her top security minister Friday amid mounting signs he will challenge her in the upcoming presidential election.

''The president approved the resignation of Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and she thanked him for his dedication and service,'' State Secretary Bambang Kesowo told a of the present days conference.

Yudhoyono, whose resignation is effective Friday, has been replaced from Home Minister Hari Sabarno, a retired three-star army general, Kesowo said.

Yudhoyono submitted his verbal expression of resignation to Megawati upon Thursday, coinciding with the start of campaigning for the April 5 parliamentary elections. In the alphabetic character he hinted that Megawati has taken throughout his role as the top political and security minister.

The relationship between Megawati and Yudhoyono has been tight recently, with Yudhoyono's staff hinting that the minister had been sidelined in the cabinet.

Yudhoyono newly appeared in his official capacity in television advertisements that called for peaceful elections this year.

Officials of Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party for toil (PDI-Perjuangan) have criticized the commercials as thinly veiled campaigning given his widely known presidential ambitions.

The retired four-star army general has been nominated by means of the Democratic Party as its candidate for the July 5 presidential election.

Political analysts said Yudhoyono is united of the strongest threats to Megawati in the country's first-ever direct presidential election.

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