UPA government steps into third year on Sunday

New Delhi, May 21 (PTI) Dogged by scams and unable to
move ahead on economic reforms in a big way, the United
Progressive Alliance (UPA) government headed by Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh steps into the third year of its second term
on Sunday, probably hoping to come out of its shackles.
For 79-year old Singh, who got to the Prime Minister's
seat after Sonia Gandhi refused to assume the office in the
summer of 2004, has been hopping from one problem to
another in the last over eight months.
The only relief that came for the party heading the
ruling coalition at the Centre was the recent results of the
Assembly elections. The party retained its government in
the eastern Indian state of Assam convincingly, managed to
wrest one in the Southern state Kerala and was in
a happy position in the eastern state West Bengal where the
ally knocked the Left front out of power after 34 years.
The coalition has arranged some celebrations at the
Prime Minister's residence on Sunday evening to mark the
oocasion.
From 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scandal, the Adarsh
Housing row and the P J Thomas affair, the Prime Minister may
not have had such a harrowing time in the last few months
than when his government was surviving on the support of the
Left parties during the first term.
In the 2G spectrum allocation scam case even the Supreme
Court of the country was prompted to pull up the Prime
Minister asking him why no action was taken against the then
Telecom Minister A Raja despite several indicators pointing
to a looming scam ahead.
Similar was the predicament of Congress party President
Sonia Gandhi, who is also the UPA Chairperson, as she faced
tough days requiring continuous firefighting operations.
The issue of price rise continued to confront the
economist-turned-politician Prime Minister with the government
appearing helpless and the unprecedented rise in fuel prices
that could have a cascading effect.
Apart from Raja landing himself in Tihar jail, the
other bigwigs to give him company there are Congress Member of
Parliament Suresh Kalmadi, charged with irregularities in the
conduct of the Commonweath Games, and Dravida Munnettra
Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi, not a good advertisement for the
government at celebrations time.
The Niira Radia tapes had their own story to tell on the
matters of governance.
With egg on its face, Government had to eat a humble
pie on the appointment of P J Thomas as the Chief Vigilance
Commissioner.
Topping all these was the controversy over the "most
wanted" list of fugitives sent to Pakistan adding further
embarrassment to the government.