NEW DELHI, Sept 8: India's 5.2 million federal government employees, rejecting a new wage package, have delivered a stunning rebuke to Prime Minister Inder Kumar Gujral's loose-knit coalition, reports Reuter.

A 135 billion rupee (3.7 billion dollar) pay-out each year to government employees, including the armed forces, has failed to satisfy anyone but instead opened up a minefield for the 15-party ruling alliance, analysts said yesterday.

"This is an open season on the Gujral government." said political commentator Mohan Guru swamy.

Since few expect the coalition comprising free market proponents. Communists and regional parties to stay the course, this was seen as a good time to extract maximum concessions, he said.

The government is holding back the implementation of the plan for pay increase, which were approved in July, until differences are ironed opt with staff unions.

The unions' main gripe is the wage disparity among government workers.

Employee protests against the fifth pay commission's recommendations have quickly snowballed into a political row.

Last Thursday hundreds of thousands of civil servants stayed away from work. The employees have threatened to go on indefinite strike from September 24 if the government does not consider their grievances.

While the communists and unions controlled by it are at the head of the agitation. Prime Minister Gujral's own Janata Dal jumped into the fray last week.

"The employees' demands cannot be dismissed out of

hand." said Janata Dal President Sharad Yadav. "There's merit in them and 1 will be taking it up with the government."

Arjun Singh, a senior leader of the Congress Party which offers make or break support to the coalition, said that discontent among government staff including the armed forces did not augur well for the country.

With some of his own partymen and supporters hitting tne streets, the Impressions the Gujral government is merely being tolerated." said political analyst Guruswamy.

At the top of the employees' wish list is narrowing the disparity with the Indian civil service, the steel frame of the former British Raj.

"More than the political leadership, we hold bureaucrats responsible for this wage mess ... the disparity Is actually widening now," said Gurudas Dasgupta, a leader of the Communist Party of India which is a partner in the ruling coalition and is leading the staff agitation.

In accepting the "handsome recommendations" of a blue-ribbon wages committee, the government had taken on an additional burden of three billion dollars annually, a government spokesman said.