UPA's report card is a mixed bag

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday presented the report card of his government which completed three years in office in its second tenure. He, however, agreed that his government needs to do much better.

"I would be the first to say that we need to do much better," Singh said while addressing the gathering of leaders of the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) alliance over dinner at his official 7 Race Course Road bungalow last night.

Singh presented statistics highlighting his government's achievements, and claimed that poverty had declined at twice the rate than that before the tenure of the UPA government.

He also sought to highlight that despite the current global economic turmoil, India continued to be the second fasted growing economy with a seven per cent growth rate.

Unfinished agenda

"I pledge that the UPA government will work with renewed determination to pursue national tasks," Singh said, affirming that his government had a large unfinished agenda which he would try to attend to in the remaining two years of its tenure.

The report card comes at a time when the government is becoming unpopular due to soaring prices, downfall of the Indian rupee and an economic slowdown.

The ruling Congress party president, Sonia Gandhi, who is also the UPA chairperson, said she expects the coalition to perform better. Addressing the gathering, she said that only two years were left for a fresh mandate and it would depend on how the government functions. "We need to go for the elections in next two years. We will be judged by our work, not promises," Sonia said.

Special treatment

Uttar Pradesh's ruling Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who provides crucial outside support to the UPA government, was given special treatment considering that presidents of two major allies had decided to skip the event. Yadav was given a prominent position on the dais and was offered the seat beside Sonia during dinner.

The event, however, was marred by the absence of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo, M. Karunanidhi, who cited poor health to skip the dinner, and Trinamool Congress president Mamata Banerjee, who also remained absent.

Trinamool Congress and DMK are the second and third largest constituents of the Congress-led UPA, with 19 and 18 lawmakers respectively in the Lok Sabha.

Mamata's decision to stay away from the dinner was seen as her way to express discontent. The West Bengal chief minister's request for a moratorium on interest payments on loans taken out by her state has gone unheeded so far.

Karunanidhi's son M.K. Alagiri came up with a funny excuse to skip the Prime Minister's dinner, claiming that he was on diet.

The 88-year-old Karunanidhi left none in doubt that he was far from satisfied with the UPA government's performance. When responding to a question, he said ups and downs were part and parcel in the life of every government.

Mayawati stays away

Another leader to skip Singh's dinner was Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati. BSP lends support to the Congress-led UPA government from outside. Earlier, Mayawati had proclaimed that she was too busy to even read the invitation letter.

While the performance of UPA-I (2004-2009) was praised by all, a few opinion polls to mark UPA-II's three years in office show that its popularity has dwindled and is currently much below its arch rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

"I wonder what would be the flavour of the dinner hosted to celebrate the three years of completion of government," BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain said after BJP's parliamentary party meeting in Delhi.