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==External links==
==External links==
* [http://pmindia.nic.in/cmp.pdf Common Minimum Programme of the UPA.]
* [http://pmindia.nic.in/cmp.pdf Common Minimum Programme of the UPA.]
*Arora, Balveer and Tawa Lama Rewal, Stéphanie. [http://samaj.revues.org/index2845.html ''"Introduction: Contextualizing and Interpreting the 15th Lok Sabha Elections"'']. ''South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal'', 3, 2009.


{{Indian political parties}}
{{Indian political parties}}

Revision as of 11:21, 19 March 2012

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a coalition of center-left political parties in India.It was formed right after the General Election in 2004[1]. At the time of its formation in 2004, it was led by the Indian National Congress (INC).The chairperson of the UPA is Mrs. Sonia Gandhi. Currently UPA is heading the government of India. The coalition is led by the Indian National Congress (INC), which is currently the single largest political party in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the parliament of India). The Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, and the Council of Ministers are drawn from members of the UPA.

History

UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi.

The UPA formed soon after the 2004 general elections after it had became clear that no party had won majority. The NDA had won only 169 MPs[2] in the 543 member 14th Lok Sabha, as opposed the UPA tally of 222 seats.

The Left Front with 59 MPs (excluding the speaker), the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs and the Bahujan Samaj Party with 19 MPs were other significant blocks that opted to support UPA at various phases of its rule.[3][4] The UPA did not enjoy a simple majority on its own in the parliament, rather it has relied on the external support to ensure that it enjoys the confidence of the Indian parliament similar to the formula adopted by the previous minority governments of the United Front, the NDA, the Congress government of Narasimha Rao, and earlier governments of V P Singh and Chandrashekhar.

An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the current constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states. However, it was only after the election that the results of negotiations between parties were announced. The UPA government's policies were initially guided by a common minimum programme that the alliance hammered out with fruitful consultations with Jyoti Basu and Harkishan Singh Surjeet of the 59 member Left Front.[5] Hence, government policies were generally perceived as center-left, reflecting the centrist policies of the INC. The congress party is today more closely aligned with the neoliberalism, strongly advocates social democracy and social liberalism.

During the tenure of Jharkhand CM Madhu Koda, the constituents of the UPA were, by mutual consent, supporting his government.[6]

UPA survived a vote of confidence in the parliament on 22 July 2008 after left parties withdraw their support.UPA survived a vote of confidence mainly because of the Samajwadi party supported them.

In the Indian General Election in 2009, the UPA won a convincing 262 seats with INC alone winning 206 seats. All inclusive and populist policies along with a younger leadership has been credited for this.[7]

Initial support

Initially, the United progressive alliance(UPA) was given external support from the Left Front which totaled 59 MPs. Similar external support was also promised by several smaller parties that were not a member of any coalition, including the Samajwadi Party with 39 MPs, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam with 4 MPs, the Janata Dal (Secular) with 3 MPs, and Bahujan Samaj Party with 19 MPs, who promised to support the government if it faced a vote of confidence. Nevertheless, these parties were not a part of the government. The UPA thus had at least 335 MPs out of 543 supporting it at the time of its formation.

The Left parties, despite ideological differences with the Congress, supported the UPA to ensure a secular government.[8]

Outside support is currently being offered by the Samajwadi Party (33 MPs), the Bharatiya Navshakti Party (1 MP), the National Conference (2 MPs)[9] and by the National Loktantrik Party (1 MP). In addition, rebel MPs from Biju Janata Dal, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Janata Dal (United), and the independent MPs take the tally of UPA supporting MPs to 275.[10]

Withdrawals

Telangana Rashtra Samithi

The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was the first party to quit the alliance, first when its ministers quit the Andhra Pradesh government, and finally when an official withdrawal was done at the national level by its president K. Chandrashekar Rao, who resigned his Lok Sabha seat.[11]

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), began its drift when it tied up with the UPA's rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) during the Tamil Nadu elections, and on March 16, 2007 officially withdrew support from the government.[12][13]

Bahujan Samaj Party

On 21 June 2008, the Bahujan Samaj Party, or the BSP, with 17 seats, announced withdrawal of its support after the Congress starting opposing the UP government where the BSP was the ruling party. Their leader Mayawati said that she wouldn't enter an electoral alliance with either the Congress or the BJP. She also accused both parties of misusing the Central Bureau of Investigation or the CBI and attempting to implicate her in the Taj Corridor Case. She also accused Congress of making false promises to help the people of Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal regions as they were suffering from drought.[14]

Left Front

On 8 July 2008, Prakash Karat, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (or the CPI (M)), announced that the Left Front would be withdrawing support over the decision by the government to go ahead with the Indo-US nuclear deal, a Section 123 Agreement with the United States.[15]

People's Democratic Party

On 4 January 2009, Mehbooba Mufti, president of the People's Democratic Party announced the withdrawal of the PDP from the UPA given that the Congress had decided to support the Omar Abdullah-led National Conference Government in Jammu & Kashmir after the 2008 state elections.[16]

Pattali Makkal Katchi

On 26 March 2009,PMK declared that it would join the AIADMK led front and withdrew from the UPA and the party president declared that two union ministers of his party will resign shortly.

Resignations

DMK

On October 17, 2008 14 DMK MP's, including central ministers T.R. Baalu and A. Raja, handed in their post-dated resignation letters to the head of the party, TN CM M. Karunanidhi in demanding an end to the violence against civilians in Sri Lanka. There were consequently 16 DMK MP's left in the 14th Lok Sabha. All 4 Rajya Sabha MP's had also submitted post-dated resignation letters, including Karunanidhi's daughter, Kanimozhi had handed in her resignation on October 14, A. A. Jinnah, Tiruchi Siva, and Vasanthi Stanley. All 40 Lok Sabha MP's of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Pondicherry had also threatened to quit the government if it failed to take action on the Sri Lankan issue. Lawyers in Coimbatore joined their Tamil brethren in burning an effigy of Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony within the court premises earlier in the day, alleging a conspiracy by bureaucrats of Kerala origin to keep the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka on tenterhooks.[17] Following these actions, the TN CM Karunanidhi said, on November 4, that he was "satisfied" with the measures taken by the UPA government in the center on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. A statement said: "we have a Centre, which realises the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka, and the leaders there respect our sentiments," and that they were doing their best to mitigate the sufferings of the Tamils of Lanka. He added that, "We have to raise our demands to increase their action."[18]

2009 General Elections

UPA won the general elections with the Congress winning 206 seats, 61 seats more than the 2004 election tally. The pre-poll coalition of UPA, which did not include Lalu Yadav's RJD, Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP and Mulayam Singh Yadav's SP, won 262 seats, and needed the support of 10 MPs to get a simple majority in the Lok Sabha. Manmohan Singh continued to be the Prime Minister and in doing so became only the second Prime Mnister of India after Jawahar Lal Nehru to return to power after a full five year term in office. RJD, SP, BSP, JD (S) and other smaller parties and independents provide external support to the government.

Constituents

Before the election, the UPA comprised the following constituent parties:

Parties
Indian National Congress
All India Trinamool Congress[19][20]
Nationalist Congress Party[21]
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam[22]
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Indian Union Muslim League
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi
Kerala Congress (Mani)
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha

Current members for Lok-Sabha 2009[23][24]

Supporting parties for Lok-Sabha 2009

Cabinet ministers in the government

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

As of 18 August 2011, the UPA had the following cabinet ministers in the Indian government[26]:

# Name Ministry Party
1 Manmohan Singh Prime Minister
Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions
Atomic Energy
Space
Chairman of the Planning Commission
Indian National Congress
2 Pranab Mukherjee Finance Indian National Congress
3 Sharad Pawar Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Nationalist Congress Party
4 A. K. Antony Defence Indian National Congress
5 P. Chidambaram Home Affairs Indian National Congress
6 S. M. Krishna External Affairs Indian National Congress
7 Virbhadra Singh Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Indian National Congress
8 Vilasrao Deshmukh Ministry of Science & Technology
and Ministry of Earth Sciences
Indian National Congress
9 Ghulam Nabi Azad Health and Family Welfare Indian National Congress
10 Sushil Kumar Shinde Power Indian National Congress
11 M. Veerappa Moily Corporate affairs Indian National Congress
12 Farooq Abdullah New and Renewable Energy Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
13 S. Jaipal Reddy Petroleum and Natural Gas Indian National Congress
14 Kamal Nath Urban Development Indian National Congress
15 Vayalar Ravi Overseas Indian Affairs and Aviation Ministry Indian National Congress
16 Ajit Singh Civil Aviation Rashtriya Lok Dal
17 Ambika Soni Information and Broadcasting Indian National Congress
18 Mallikarjun Kharge Labour and Employment Indian National Congress
19 Kapil Sibal Communications and Information Technology
and Human Resource Development
Indian National Congress
20 Anand Sharma Commerce and Industry
Textiles
Indian National Congress
21 C. P. Joshi Road Transport and Highways Indian National Congress
22 Kumari Selja Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Indian National Congress
23 Subodh Kant Sahay Tourism Indian National Congress
24 G.K. Vasan Shipping Indian National Congress
25 Pawan Kumar Bansal Parliamentary Affairs
Water resources.
Indian National Congress
26 Mukul Wasnik Social Justice and Empowerment Indian National Congress
27 M.K. Azhagiri Chemicals and Fertilizers Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
28 Praful Patel Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Nationalist Congress Party
29 Shriprakash Jaiswal Ministry of Coal Indian National Congress
30 Salman Khurshid Law and Justice
Minority affairs
Indian National Congress
31 V. Kishore Chandra Deo Panchayati Raj
Tribal Affairs
Indian National Congress
32 Beni Prasad Verma Steel Indian National Congress
33 Dinesh Trivedi Railways Trinamul Congress
34 Jairam Ramesh Rural Development
Drinking water and sanitation.
Indian National Congress

Past and present members of UPA

Current Members

Former Members

Past general election alliances of Congress (before 2004)

Election Year Prime Minister Candidate Parties
1977 Indira Gandhi Indian National Congress (Indira)

Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Communist Party of India
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Indian Union Muslim League
Kerala Congress
Revolutionary Socialist Party (breakaway)
Independents (2)

1980 Indira Gandhi Indian National Congress (Indira)

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Jammu & Kashmir National Conference
Indian Union Muslim League
Kerala Congress (Joseph)

1984 Rajiv Gandhi Indian National Congress
1989 None
1991 P. V. Narasimha Rao INC+
1998 None Indian National Congress

Kerala Congress (Mani)

1999 None Indian National Congress (Indira)

Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Rashtriya Janata Dal
United Democratic Front

Controversies

During the discussion for the vote of confidence, BJP MP's produced cash in the parliament, as viewed on Lok Sabha TV, alleging a bribe by the Samajwadi Party to vote for the government. The BJP claimed to have documentary evidence in a "cash for vote" scam and submitted a report before the parliamentary committee probing the matter.[citation needed] The BJP also wrote a 17-page letter to the Parliamentary committee headed by Congress member V Kishore Chandradeo in this regard. Arun Jaitley said Samajwadi MP Reoti Raman Singh had offered his party's MPs the cash on the night of July 21.[citation needed] He also alleged that SP leader Amar Singh was behind the entire episode. Jaitley said: "The investigating agencies did not do their job.[citation needed] So we inquired into the matter and gathered documentary evidence in the case." He alleged the 'cash for vote' scam reflected the subversion of the Indian Parliament, as well as a section of the media.[31]

The winter session of parliament in October 2008 came under intense criticism from the Left parties and the BJP to demand a full fledged winter session instead of what was seen as the UPA to having "scuttled the voice of Parliament" by bringing down the sittings to a record low of 30 days in the year. The tensions between the UPA and the opposition parties became evident at an all party meeting convened by Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee when the leader of opposition, LK Advani questioned the status, timing and schedule of the current session of parliament.[32]

In early November 2008, months before a new general election, RJD chief Laloo Prasad Yadav, along with other MP's from Bihar, threatened to resign en masse from the central government as well as with their MLA's in Bihar and Jharkhand if the central government did not take steps to arrest Raj Thackeray under the NSA for the recent actions against north Indian students in Maharashtra, as well as to initiate a CBI inquiry in the killing of a Bihari in Mumbai.[citation needed] The opposition BJP termed this "another spell of rhetoric" on the issue of attacks on North Indians in Mumbai.

See also

References

  1. ^ http://electionaffairs.com/parties/UPA.html
  2. ^ Small parties, independents in great demand.
  3. ^ Originally the SP had 39 MPs. 6 MPs defied party whip and have been expelled from the party.
  4. ^ Lok Sabha members
  5. ^ "Congress pins hopes on Jyoti Basu". The Times Of India. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help) [dead link]
  6. ^ Madhu Koda to be next Jharkhand CM. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  7. ^ "Zakaria: Elections could mark India's debut as great power - CNN.com". CNN. May 16, 2009. Retrieved May 26, 2010.
  8. ^ "Secular govt a priority: Basu." Rediff Election Bureau 13 May 2004.
  9. ^ Inching closer to vote, govt safe@272 NDTV
  10. ^ Abstentions and cross-voting.... Retrieved on July 25, 2008.
  11. ^ TRS withdraws support to the UPA. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  12. ^ Vaiko withdraws support. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  13. ^ [Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
  14. ^ Mayawati withdraws support to UPA government. Retrieved on June 21, 2008.
  15. ^ Left pulls out, will meet President Patil on Wednesday
  16. ^ PDP withdraws from UPA, The Indian Express. January 5, 2009
  17. ^ http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1199083
  18. ^ "Karunanidhi 'satisfied' with measures taken by Centre". The Hindu. Chennai, India. November 4, 2008.
  19. ^ Though not officially a UPA member, the Trinamool Congress announced that it would form an alliance with the Congress in the state of West Bengal for the 2009 general elections."Congress, Trinamool form alliance for LS polls". CNN-IBN. March 1, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  20. ^ Congress & Trinamool Congress agreed on a seat-sharing accord in West Bengal almost two weeks after announcing their intention to fight elections together."Cong, TMC reach seat-sharing accord in Bengal". CNN-IBN. March 11, 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-12.
  21. ^ NCP-Congress form a seat sharing agreement in Maharashtra"Congress-NCP alliance stays for 2009 election". DNA. March 4, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  22. ^ "Cong-DMK alliance to continue for LS polls". Rediff.com. March 2, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  23. ^ http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/manmohan_gets_presidential_invite_to_form_govt.php
  24. ^ http://ibnlive.in.com/news/smooth-sailing-for-upa-parties-scramble-to-support/92967-37.htm
  25. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2709331.ece
  26. ^ [http://india.gov.in/govt/cabinet.php Council of Ministers ]. Retrieved on 02 Feb 2012.
  27. ^ http://news.oneindia.in/2011/12/13/ajit-singh-joins-upa-to-be-civil-aviation-minister.html
  28. ^ http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/ajit-singh-s-rld-joins-upa_746614.html
  29. ^ http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article2709331.ece
  30. ^ a b c SP, RJD and LJP form a seat-sharing agreement, but vow to continue supporting the UPA"Lalu, Mulayam, Paswan sign deal, ask Cong not to worry". CNN-IBN. April 3, 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  31. ^ http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/We-have-documentary-proof-of-cash-for-vote-scam-BJP/344093/
  32. ^ http://www.financialexpress.com/news/Left-joins-BJP-to-sing-chorus-against-UPA/374896/