There is nothing new in the way UPA II is celebrating completion of one year in power. ?This is the way it has been done in the last five years. A report will be released and a dinner for UPA and its allies,? said a seasoned bureaucrat. What is new, however, is the way principal allies of the government could remain absent from the celebrations, first time since 2004. Nationalist Congress chief Sharad Pawar, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and chemicals and fertillisers minister MK Alagiri are not likely to turn up at the May 22 dinner.

Their absence is indicative of the significant difference between UPA-I and UPA-II. While UPA-I had its share of obdurate allies in the Left parties, this time around political management of wayward allies is what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his chief trouble shooter finance minister Pranab Mukherjee appear to be spending much of their time for.

For UPA-I, the only serious challenge to survival of the government came in July 2008 at the fag end of its term. For UPA-II, a trial by numbers was already in place during its second Budget. Anxious moments for the Congress, which had not anticipated quite such a trial with 207 MPs, have been far more than the last time.

The first 100-day goals had been set by the Prime Minister himself at the start of this term and it was hoped that the country, which had coped quite well with the global downturn, would see a government finally prepared to act boldly. However, trouble with allies began almost from the start. With the Prime Minister reluctant to induct in Cabinet former highways ministers TR Baalu and telecom minister A Raja, government formation was delayed by over a week. Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee too extracted her pound of flesh in the Cabinet spoils, not the least of which was her demand to operate the Indian Railways out of Kolkata, rather than Delhi.

If that was not enough, out of turn comments by Congress ministers themselves have embarrassed the ruling party at a time when it needed gravitas the most.

The irony of the situation is not lost on anyone, looking at the fact that while the Congress appears electorally stronger in Parliament this time round, it appears as much at sea when it comes to keeping its allies in line. CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat puts it rather succinctly: ?After thinking it can go ahead with its own policy prescriptions, it now finds itself in a position where its partners in the government often look at things differently and assert themselves.?

Congress spokesperson Manish Tiwari, however, is quite emphatic in asserting that the ideas of the first UPA government are still alive and well; it is a fact that price rise and failure to arrest it to any degree appear to be a major issue with the government. ?Let us not forget that when the government took office, the world was yet to recover from global recession and was hit by the worst drought in India in decades,? points out Tiwari.

During his first tenure, Manmohan Singh had been characterised as the non-stick or Teflon Prime Minister, to whom no muck managed to stick. Be it the ?tainted ministers? issue or even the worst of horse trading allegations during the trust vote, which Tiwari refers to as ?the opposition?s chicanery.?

In all the departures between its last term and this one, this would be the one continuity UPA-II will be hoping to retain.