The United Progressive Alliance will celebrate the first anniversary of its second consecutive term in office on Saturday after a sweet and sour year marked by misses and hits in governance and its deft management of uncertainties of coalition politics.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who was the cynosure of all eyes at the United Progressive Alliance anniversary function last year, was conspicuous by his absence Wednesday night.
The minister said he was able to build consensus on VAT when he was the Finance Minister during the UPA-I term.
Dravida Munettra Kazhagam chief M Karunanidhi on Tuesday refused to rate the three year performance of the United Progressive Alliance-II government, saying there are "ups and downs" for every government.
Noted jurist and Bharatiya Janata Party member of parliament Ram Jethmalani on Friday slammed the ruling United Progressive Alliance government as "shameless" for remaining in office even after the Supreme Court's criticism of it for the "laggardly pace" of probe into the issue of black money stashed abroad in tax havens.
'Mumbai main branch (SBI headquarter) has all the data ready-made. It doesn't take even an hour to out the data from the system.'
Four of the most important ministries in the United Progressive Alliance government remained untouched in the major Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday. Let's take a look at these ministries:
Sonia Gandhi kept off the media, Rahul Gandhi was basking in his UP foray, while other Congressmen showed little exuberance when they were not sniping at each other. Sheela Bhatt reports on UPA II's dinner to mark two years in office
'After Manoj Jarange Patil began his long march towards Mumbai on January 20, he kept increasing his demands and the government meekly surrendered to him.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the first anniversary of the United Progressive Alliance-II was marked by "disappointment and betrayal of common man" and that price rise, corruption and surge in Naxal violence were the "achievements" of the government which could complete one year by "misusing" the Central Bureau of Investigation.
The United Progressive Alliance's first anniversary celebrations tomorrow are essentially going to be a Congress affair. Barring Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee, no other top leader of any of the ally or supporting parties is expected to be present at the bash to mark six years in office of the Congress-led coalition.
The much talked about reshuffle of the Union Cabinet will take place on Monday, ahead of which C P Joshi and Ajay Maken stepped down as Cabinet ministers. Both Joshi and Maken had handed over their resignations on Saturday night. Their resignations were today accepted by President Pranab Mukherjee with immediate effect, a Rashtrapati Bhavan communique said.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh Prime in his second term felt necessary to issue revised guidelines which was in existence for 25 years, on channels of communications between the government of India and state governments on the one hand, and foreign governments or their missions in India, heads of Indian diplomatic missions and posts abroad and international organiastions on the other.
As indicated by Union finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA government has already initiated process to make higher allocation in social sector.
The biggest challenge before Chidambaram, who will be presenting his eighth budget, would be to keep every constituent happy, arrest decelerating economic growth and bring down fiscal deficit to committed level of 4.8 per cent of the gross domestic product.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Pledging to take corruption head on, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance on Sunday night promised to punish the guilty in scams and assured the people that it would demonstrate through actions and not words what it meant.
"What the legislature cannot do is to say that we think the judgment is wrong and therefore we overrule the judgment. The judgment of a court cannot be directly overruled by the legislature," the CJI said.
Most politicians and even non-politicians have been honoured because of what they were purported to be electorally worth for the ruling party of their time, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
How many marks will Prime Minister Manmohan Singh give to the performance of the United Progressive Alliance's second term? This is the question being asked in political circles ahead of Dr Singh's first press conference in Delhi on Monday since taking over as PM for the second time. When the UPA-I had completed one year in May 2005, Dr Singh gave six out of ten marks to its performance, but said he was not satisfied with it.
'It is best for Sonia to retreat to the background and let Rahul gradually come to the fore to stand by Manmohan Singh.'
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
In light of the recent announcement of the government to introduce Foreign Direct Investment in retail sector, the United Progressive Alliance government is facing a backlash from its allies.
The UPA's old schemes are unravelling while the new ones are still to take off, says Sunita Moga
What is most troubling is that not a single party that is part of INDIA has talked about any kind of reform and economic sense, argues R Jagannathan.
'There was trust, but perhaps there was also this apprehension that given the supreme post of prime minister, Sonia Gandhi felt her authority may be a challenged.'
The committee's objections are a curious mixture; some attack the very basis of the project, others question its implementation.
The committee's objections are a curious mixture; some attack the very basis of the project, others question its implementation.
'The Bharat Jodo Yatra successfully resurrected the Rahul Gandhi brand.' 'There's a critical mass that has built up for the Congress and Mr Modi is feeling the heat on the Adani issue, the raids on the BBC offices, the Opposition getting together.'
Singh's reaction came after a recent media report alleged that a few leaders of the UPA-II dispensation tried to establish a false narrative that the Army in 2011-12, then headed by him, was planning a "coup" to usurp the then Manmohan Singh government.
Experts say it will now be tough for the Modi government to catch up with the UPA's economic record owing to the shock induced by the currency demonetisation.
Mamata Banerjee, who had pulled out of UPA-II over FDI in retail, among other issues, would dedicate mall to people of Kolkata.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Indian economy may have slowed down but there is no threat of a recession.
An opinion poll survey conducted by CNN-IBN shows that people are dissatisfied with the present UPA government and majority believe the UPA-II government does not deserve another term to rule.
Fernandes was hospitalised in July after suffering a fall while doing yoga at his house.
"The remark is disgraceful and unfortunate," Dr Singh told reporters in Parliament when asked to comment on Advani's statement in Lok Sabha.
The days of anti-reform, anti-growth advisers that undermined our economy in the UPA-II years will now be strictly behind us: Bhagwati
Just weeks ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Singh quit the Congress party on Tuesday and joined the BJP, in a setback for the grand old party.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani on Wednesday created a storm in the Lok Sabha by dubbing UPA-II as "illegitimate" but withdrew it after strong protests from Congress.
With the Presidential nomination of legal luminary K Parasaran -- a decision by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh -- the Rajya Sabha has now four Iyengar Vaishnavites, beginning from Jairam Ramesh, Dr V Maitreyan and Communist Party of India-Marxist MP T K Rangarajan.
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