Czech PM Sobotka plans to submit resignation by mid-May

FILE PHOTO - Czech Republic Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka speaks during the news conference at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, April 3, 2017. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka informed the cabinet on Wednesday he planned to hand his resignation to President Milos Zeman by mid-May, possibly later than this week as he had announced on Tuesday, two cabinet members said. Sobotka surprised the political scene on Tuesday by announcing the resignation as a way to force a resolution of a row with Finance Minister Andrej Babis centered around his past financial operations. Babis has denied any wrongdoing and has refused to resign on his own. (Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Robert Muller; Editing by Jason Hovet)