Upa: Going Through A Tough Patch, But We're Stronger

[golmaal govindam]

[url="http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3446523.ece?homepage=true"]http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/article3446523.ece?homepage=true[/url]

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At UPA anniversary, Congress flaunts new allies[/font][color=#3B3A39][font=Georgia,]
From the lawns of 7, Race Course Road, the United Progressive Alliance sent out a message to all its opponents on its eighth anniversary: we may be going through a difficult patch, but we are still growing because we represent the forces of secularism and pluralism. For, on stage with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and representatives of the UPA allies were Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav — who won a spectacular victory in Uttar Pradesh earlier this year — and Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav. Later, at a dinner, too, the two Yadavs were given pride of place as they sat, flanking Ms. Gandhi and her son, Rahul Gandhi. T.R. Baalu represented the DMK.[/font][/color][color=#3B3A39][font=Georgia,]
There was also a message to Trinamool Congress chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who stayed away from the UPA's celebrations and sent MoS Saugato Roy in her stead: the alliance was not short of numbers as it had the 21-MP strong SP backing it. Indeed, wittingly or unwittingly, Mr. Mulayam Singh Yadav, along with other UPA members, held aloft the UPA's Report to the People for a photo-op, completing the picture of the extended family.[/font][/color]