New Delhi:
If the dinner party at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's residence on Tuesday night was about who's who in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), then Mulayam Singh Yadav's being seated on the stage right next to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and then at her table for dinner was a telling statement.
Mr Yadav's Samajwadi Party is not an official member of the UPA.
Conspicuous by her absence on the occasion to mark the completion of the UPA's three years in this term was Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress is a part of the UPA; in fact, the largest UPA constituent after the Congress.
The DMK's M Karunanidhi was also not there, pleading ill health, but his representative and the party's senior leader TR Baalu had a place at Mrs Gandhi's table.
Also seated at that table for dinner were Rahul Gandhi, Omar Abdullah of the National Conference, senior Congressman Karan Singh, Trinamool's Saugata Roy and RJD chief Lalu Yadav.
At the PM's table sat senior Congress leaders and Union Ministers Pranab Mukharjee and P Chidambaram, Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan, Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal and NCP's Sharad Pawar.
Asked if he would spare Mr Mukherjee, seated next to him, for president, the PM refused comment.
Before dinner, the host presented his government's report card for the last year; he admitted the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), completing its third year of rule in term, could have done better, but also said that, "let no one doubt we have done much." And he listed his government's achievements.
Tough economic decisions, he said, were necessary and pointed out that despite the bleak international scenario, the Indian economy grew by about 7 percent. Mentioning the contentious Lokpal Bill, which has now been delayed further, the PM said, "We know there is public frustration and anger on the issue of corruption. I wish to assure our people that we are working sincerely to address this issue through both legislative and administrative measures."
(Read: PM's full speech)Next to him on stage Sonia Gandhi said, in Hindi, "We know elections are just two years away but people will vote for us not on promises but performance...We will not let an aggressive and often irresponsible opposition undermine our achievements."
Mrs Gandhi's remarks came on a day when the Bharatiya Janata Party had said that the UPA government could fall anytime given the constant coalition troubles that it seemed to be battling.
(Read: Govt will fall anytime, says BJP)A key Congress leader, who didn't wish to be named, told NDTV that after eight years in government, one couldn't expect everything to be in stars-and-stripes. He said that he didn't see any "policy paralysis" or a crisis in "perception management". He emphasised that that the party would, in the days to come, project a younger leadership with a vision before the Lok Sabha elections in 2014.
The get-together of allies came at a time when the government is grappling with runaway prices, a plunging rupee and a growth slowdown. It is under constant attack from the opposition which has accused it of a lack of leadership and policy paralysis. It has been afforded the opportunity to make that last accusation largely because of allies like Mamata Banerjee who has brandished her numbers in the coalition time and again to scuttle important policy decisions and key economic legislations like Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail.
Those coalition compulsions have made it a tough year for the Congress-led UPA, which had a far smoother run in its first term, despite the uneasy partnership and eventual fallout with the Left parties. In that term, the Manmohan Singh government had pushed decisions regardless of pressures.