Pranab Mukherjee
NEW DELHI: External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday described the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as an arrangement for governance, and maintained that there was no rationale in the analysis that it was disintegrating since the government was still in place.
Briefing journalists here, Mr. Mukherjee said the UPA had never been a political entity as it was the name given to the coalition government at the Centre. “That UPA is still continuing as a government entity. Except for Anbumani Ramadoss and R. Velu [of the Pattali Makkal Katchi], no one has left the UPA because of seat adjustments.”
This, he contrasted with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). The NDA had lost the Telugu Desam Party, the Trinamool Congress and the Biju Janata Dal. So, it was not the UPA that was disintegrating but the NDA, was his submission.
As for the decision of the Samajwadi Party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Lok Jan Shakti Party (LJP) to forge a united front in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the Minister likened it to professional football clubs made up of members from various national teams.
