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United Progressive Alliance
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is the name of the present ruling coalition of political parties of the Government of India. The UPA was formed soon after the 2004 general elections to the Lok Sabha, determining the composition of the 14th Lok Sabha. An informal alliance had existed prior to the elections as several of the current constituent parties had developed seat-sharing agreements in many states. However it was only after the election results were announced and it became evident that the rival BJP led coalition was not in a position to head the government that the alliance started taking shape. Initially, the proposed name for the alliance was the Secular Progressive Alliance.
The UPA's policies are defined through a common minimum programme and the alliance is generally perceived as a center-left coalition dominated by the Indian National Congress whose president Sonia Gandhi is its chairperson.
In the state of Jharkhand, the constituents of the UPA are by mutual agreement supporting the government led by an independent politician, Madhu Koda.[1]
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The constituents of the UPA (with number of members in the Lok Sabha) include:[2]
- Indian National Congress (146 MPs)
- Rashtriya Janata Dal (23 MPs)
- Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (16 MPs)
- Nationalist Congress Party (10 MPs)
- Pattali Makkal Katchi (6 MPs)
- Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (5 MPs)
- Lok Janshakti Party (4 MPs)
- Kerala Congress (2 MPs)
- Indian Union Muslim League (1 MP)
- Jammu and Kashmir People's Democratic Party (1 MP)
- Republican Party of India (Athvale) (1 MP)
- All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (1 MP)
The alliance is being given external support from the Left Front, consisting of the four main leftist parties: Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc (totalling 59 MPs). The reason that the communist parties have given for supporting the center-left Congress is that they wish to ensure formation of a de facto secular government at the centre.[3] These parties are not a part of the government and support it externally, by providing the government with the requisite number of seats needed for staying in power. External support has also been given by the Bahujan Samaj Party (which has 19 MPs) and smaller parties such as the Sikkim Democratic Front.[4]
At present the UPA has 226 seats in the Lok Sabha.[5] The external support provided by the left parties, the BSP, etc takes the total number of seats to over 300 which is well over the required figure of 272 to keep the government in power.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) was the first party to quit the alliance, first when its ministers quit the Andhra Pradesh government, and finally when an official withdrawal was done at the national level by its president K. Chandrashekar Rao, who resigned his Lok Sabha seat.[6] Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), which was giving external support to the coalition, began its drift when it tied up with the UPA's rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) during the Tamil Nadu elections, and on March 16th, 2007, officially withdrew support.[7] The Samajwadi Party also has withdrawn its support to the coalition.[8]
As of November 29, 2006 the UPA has the following cabinet ministers in the Indian government[9]:
| # | Name | Ministry | Party |
| 1 | Manmohan Singh | Prime Minister | Indian National Congress |
| 2 | Pranab Mukherjee | External Affairs | Indian National Congress |
| 3 | Arjun Singh | Human Resource Development | Indian National Congress |
| 4 | Sharad Pawar | Agriculture and Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution | Nationalist Congress Party |
| 5 | Lalu Prasad | Railways | Rashtriya Janata Dal |
| 6 | A.K. Antony | Defence | Indian National Congress |
| 7 | Shivraj Patil | Home Affairs | Indian National Congress |
| 8 | Abdul Rehman Antulay | Minority Affairs | Indian National Congress |
| 9 | Sushilkumar Shinde | Power | Indian National Congress |
| 10 | Ram Vilas Paswan | Chemicals & Fertilizers and Steel | Lok Janshakti Party |
| 11 | Jaipal Reddy | Urban Development | Indian National Congress |
| 12 | Sis Ram Ola | Mines | Indian National Congress |
| 13 | P. Chidambaram | Finance | Indian National Congress |
| 14 | Mahavir Prasad | Small Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries | Indian National Congress |
| 15 | P.R. Kyndiah | Tribal Affairs | Indian National Congress |
| 16 | T.R. Baalu | Shipping, Road Transport & Highways | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam |
| 17 | Shankersinh Vaghela | Textiles | Indian National Congress |
| 18 | Vayalar Ravi | Overseas Indian Affairs | Indian National Congress |
| 19 | Kamal Nath | Commerce & Industry | Indian National Congress |
| 20 | Hansraj Bhardwaj | Law & Justice | Indian National Congress |
| 21 | Sontosh Mohan Dev | Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises | Indian National Congress |
| 22 | Saif-ud-din Soz | Water Resources | Indian National Congress |
| 23 | Raghuvansh Prasad Singh | Rural Development | Rashtriya Janata Dal |
| 24 | Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi | Parliamentary Affairs and Information & Broadcasting | Indian National Congress |
| 25 | Mani Shankar Aiyar | Panchayati Raj, Youth Affairs & Sports and Development of North East Region | Indian National Congress |
| 26 | Meira Kumar | Social Justice and Empowerment | Indian National Congress |
| 27 | Murli Deora | Petroleum & Natural Gas | Indian National Congress |
| 28 | Ambika Soni | Tourism and Culture | Indian National Congress |
| 29 | A. Raja | Communications & Information Technology | Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam |
| 30 | Anbumani Ramadoss | Health & Family Welfare | Pattali Makkal Katchi |
| 31 | Kapil Sibal | Science & Technology and Earth Sciences | Indian National Congress |
| 32 | Prem Chand Gupta | Company Affairs | Rashtriya Janata Dal |
The opposition often criticises the UPA for being partial to the minority communities of India. They cite issues like not executing the death sentence of Mohammad Afzal[10] and trying to promote religion based reservations in government jobs and educational institutes as proof of this bias[11]. It has also been criticised for straying away from the Common Minimum Programme and "wasting time and money" on projects such as the 2010 Commonwealth Games. [12]
- ^ Madhu Koda to be next Jharkhand CM. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ Initial constituents of the UPA. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ Secular govt a priority: Basu. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ SDF regime is the golden period in Sikkim’s history. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ Singh, Ally Seek to Limit Differences. Retrieved on August 14, 2007.
- ^ TRS withdraws support to the UPA. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ Vaiko withdraws support. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ SP withdraws support to the UPA. Retrieved on March 26, 2007.
- ^ List of Council of Ministers. Retrieved on March 27, 2007.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [3]
- ^ See the List of recognised political parties in India.
- ^ To gain recognition as a state party, the party must have some kind of political activity for at least five continuous years, and send at least 4% of the state's quota to the Lok Sabha (India's Lower house), or 3.33% of members to the state assembly. If the above conditions are not fulfilled, then a party may gain recognition by garnering not less than 6% of the total votes in a state or national election, polled in by all its contesting candidates. If a party is recognised in four or more states, it is automatically recognised as a national party by the EC.