Srinagar, Sep 2 (IANS) High-profile Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Muzaffar Hussain Beigh Saturday said he will quit the coalition ministry, ending a crisis threatening the state following the recent cabinet expansion.

"I will submit my resignation to the chief minister when he returns from New Delhi," the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader told newspersons here Saturday afternoon.

Beigh's announcement ends the two-day crisis gripping the coalition government after Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad refused to accept a PDP proposal over allocation of portfolios to PDP ministers including pruning of ministries held by Beigh.

"I will request Azad saab to relieve me of my responsibilities as deputy chief minister and as a minister of the PDP-Congress government," Beigh said.

The resignation of Beigh will pave the way for the appointment of a new PDP- nominated deputy chief minister.

Beigh denied he was party to the decision by Azad to retain him as deputy chief minister despite the PDP's decision to the contrary.

He said the PDP patron and former chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed had "pointed to four lapses on my part on four issues, which included the creation of eight new districts and the transfer of a senior superintendent of police from the PDP stronghold of Anantnag.

"However, I didn't want friction in the coalition ministry on these issues and that is why I went by the cabinet decisions. I told this to Mufti," Beigh said.