A UK daily has been dithering online with its headline on the Indian Prime Minister. The Independent's story on Dr Manmohan Singh fluctuated this morning between asking if he is Sonia Gandhi's "poodle" or her "puppet." It's now settled on asking if the PM is, as Time magazine suggested last week, 'the underachiever'.
This morning, The Independent's website carried this headline - "Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Poodle?" A few hours later, the headline had been amended to "Manmohan Singh: Saviour or Sonia's Puppet?" A few minutes late, it was back to "Poodle." (Read the article) And then, by 12.10 pm, it had taken refuge in Time magazine's headline last week to settle on "Mamnohan Singh: Saviour or the 'Under-Achiever'?"
The Independent says "Observers say one of Mr Singh's problems is that he has no genuine political power. Rather, he owes his position to Sonia Gandhi... this has meant he has sometimes been unable to even control his Cabinet" and "From within his ruling Congress Party there are repeated, if oblique, demands for him to step aside ahead in favour of his presumed successor, Rahul Gandhi."
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The piece acknowledges that "While he may unfairly have become the target for criticism of an entire administration, it is he who needs to do something if he wants to secure a favourable place in history."
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In April, ratings agency Standard and Poor's also said that the PM appeared to have little hold over his Cabinet.
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