Manmohan Singh's second term: Drift, disunity, unfulfilled expectations

Is this really a big surprise? The only people who are surprised are the ones who keep voting for these guys and expect different results.
"Yatha Praja, Tatha Raaja"

http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3905530&page=5

Manmohan Singh's second term: Drift, disunity, unfulfilled expectations
Expectations about the Manmohan Singh government performing better in its second term as the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) completes a year since it returned to power are yet to be fulfilled. It was hoped that a more secure majority in parliament and the absence of an obstructionist Communist bloc would enable the prime minister to push ahead faster with economic reforms and provide more purposeful governance.

But despite the government's success in fobbing off the challenge from its two main adversaries - the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left parties - as the failure of their cut motion on the demand for grants showed, it still seems lacking in confidence.
The reason is more internal than external. While the government has succeeded in obtaining the support of three allies such as the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Samajwadi Party (SP), its partners in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) as well as a section of Congressmen themselves have proved to be troublesome.
Besides, misgivings prevail about how the government wooed these three parties of the Hindi heartland. While the BSP's Mayawati apparently believes the government will not pursue the corruption cases against her with the earlier vigour, the RJD and the SP have been placated by the government conceding their demand for including caste in the census enumerations for the first time since 1931.
The rest of the article is available at the following:
http://news.in.msn.com/national/article.aspx?cp-documentid=3905530&page=5
Source: Amulya Ganguli, IANS