The UPA 1 was formed when the Congress was weak. It was Sonia Gandhi who took initiative for building up a coalition and went to each of the Congress allies before the 2004 polls and they all accepted her leadership. When the time came to occupy the throne, she listened to her “inner voice “and declined to become the prime minister and chose Dr. Manmohan Singh as PM. In 2009, a confident Congress went to polls with its stability card.

Sonia-Singh duo shared power and worked in tandem during the UPA 1 but the remote control was in Sonia Gandhi's hands. It was Mrs. Gandhi who managed the allies and kept the coalition going, even after the left parties parted company on the Indo-US nuclear deal. While everyone expected her son Rahul Gandhi to take over after 2009 polls, both the mother and son pitched for Singh once again and Singh continues.

The composition of the UPA 2 is slightly different from the UPA 1. There was no Left support from outside. Trinamool Congress and NC also joined the coalition. The DMK continued while JMM was out. One important thing was that the Congress performed better crossing the 200-mark in 2009 and became more assertive than UPA 1.

It may be too soon to judge the performance of UPA 2 as its mandate is for five years but by and large it has not done badly. Credit should be given for getting the women's bill passed in Rajya Sabha as also for the Right to Education bill. Introduction of the nuclear liability bill also needs mention. The food security bill is the next important pro-poor legislation. Disinvestment was another measure the government pushed through. Some measures in economic reforms have been taken up but there are much more like the banking, insurance and labour reforms. The handling of naxalites is a serious concern. On the economic front, the price rise and inflation are two serious problems and the government is not very successful in containing them.

The perception is that the PM is not in command over his cabinet colleagues or in checking corruption. The cohesiveness is lacking in cabinet with ministers speaking in different voices on various issues. There is a kind of drifting away from the pro - poor programmes.

For the Congress, the second term began well with the party retaining Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh keeping the kitty in tact. Rahul Gandhi's strategy in UP seems to have paid dividends and the party is looking up in UP. But in Bihar, the prospect is not looking good. In Bengal, it is the Trinamool, which is gaining ground and has attracted some senior congress leaders like Subroto Mukherji joining it.

The Congress has to improve its relationship with its allies. The stability with which the UPA 2 came to power has become a question mark with the government struggling to mobilize the number to pass the bills. Even before the first anniversary is celebrated, two important allies like the SP and RJD who were supporting from outside, withdrew their support on the women's bill leaving the government with a razor thin majority.

Strangely enough, a common minimum programme, which was the bible in UPA 1, does not exist now. There is no trust between the Congress and its allies. There is constant spat between the Congress and the NCP. The Trinamool Congress is fighting with the Congress party in West Bengal on every issue. The DMK is flexing its muscles on the issue of the telecom scam. The allies complain that they are not consulted.

There is a perceptible change in the Congress party -government relationship with the party asserting over the government. The UPA 2 cabinet bore the stamp of 10 Janpath as she has handpicked most of the ministers. While it is the prerogative of the prime minister to choose a minister or sack him, the PM has no free hand. This was evident in the case of Shashi Tharoor or Jairam Ramesh or Raja of the DMK while the party distanced itself from Jairam and Tharoor episodes.

Secondly, the Congress is trying to occupy the space vacated by the Left parties in monitoring the government critically. Price rise, which is causing concern to the “aam admi,” on whose support the Congress came to power, is one of them. Not knowing how to tackle this, the party distanced itself from the government.

Thirdly, Congress President Sonia Gandhi has also asserted herself on certain issues. The party is concerned that the government was not doing enough on the pro-poor programmes or their implementation. It distanced itself from the Indo-Pak joint statement at Sharm el Sheikh. On the women reservation bill, it was evident that it was Sonia Gandhi, who over ruled the Prime Minister and got it passed in the Rajya Sabha. While the Prime Minister is in favour of diluting the Right to Information Act, it is Sonia Gandhi who wants no change. Singh is cautious about the Food security bill, which will cost about Rs 40,000 crores but Sonia Gandhi is very keen to bring it. Even the caste census bears the stamp of Sonia Gandhi while the government is reluctant. Above all, the revival of the National Advisory Council, which functions as a super body under the chairmanship of Sonia Gandhi shows that she wants to run the party and the government from the front and not through remote control any more.

In short, the PM should not expect a six for his government's performance as it could have done much better. Clearly, Sonia Gandhi has moved from remote control to more direct control. (IPA Service)