Frail UPA pulled down by corruption, bad economy: survey

Having ruled India for nine years at a stretch, UPA is likely to celebrate its ninth anniversary on 22 May but the coalition at the Centre will also be silently aware that it might just turn out to be the last one.

Instead of kudos, a survey revealed that urban India is ready with brickbats for the United Progressive Alliance as it found the government to be timid and short of political maturity.[caption id=“attachment_803187” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Troubled in power. PTI[/caption]

According to a survey conducted by research firm GFK for CNN-IBN, more than one-third of the respondents thought the government to be weak. Nearly 50 percent respondents in Mumbai believed that the government lacked courage and political maturity .

The survey showed that about 60 percent of the sample in Lucknow did not find capable leaders in the coalition. Around one-third of respondents in Bangalore came up with an interesting view that UPA 2 lacked the communication skills needed to govern India.

These faults in governance are not favouring UPA 2 as they are affecting the credibility of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government . A whopping 95 percent of the respondents in New Delhi share this sentiment. Mumbai appeared to be soft with 50 percent of the sample still preferring the UPA to return to power.

The poll was conducted to understand the perception towards UPA 2 keeping in mind the current state of governance, issues affecting the mindset of urban India and leadership issues. The poll was carried out from 7-11 May 2013 in 12 cities-Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh, Bhopal and Jaipur - with a sample size consisting of 2,466 adult men and women. This was a quantitative study where eligible respondents were interviewed, with the help of a close-ended questionnaire.

Corruption , which 94 percent of the Delhites sampled, felt is where the UPA 2 miserably failed to tackle. Nearly three-fourth respondents in totality said that the corruption levels increased in the last one year. However, Bhopal chose to differ, the survey reflected.

Increasing prices of essential commodities also proved to be a bane for the ruling coalition at the Centre. Across all cities, respondents agreed on high inflation as a repellant against the UPA.

To make matters worse, the general health of the country’s economy also ruined prospects for the UPA to thrive in its second term.

Close to two-third respondents expressed concern over the deteriorating health of the economy. Chandigarh and Bhopal thought somewhat in favour of the Congress-led alliance as 40 percent of the respondents were of the opinion that the economy has fared better than before.