UPA-II facing difficult times: Salman Khurshid

CNN-IBN | 22-May 13:26 PM

New Delhi: A recent opinion poll conducted by the market research firm GFK in eight cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Lucknow) between May 8-10, 2012 revealed that nearly 66 per cent of the respondents were dissatisfied with the current Manmohan Singh-led UPA government and would want the PM replaced by Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi or Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

Law Minister Salman Khurshid has admitted that it was indeed a wake up call for the government.

Khurshid said, "Yes, this is a wake up call. I think we ourselves know that there are difficult times we have spent in the last few months. We do know that this is perhaps the low point. We are not convinced that we can't pick up or we won't pick up in the time to follow. Two years is a long time..."

The government's failure to handle Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal movement properly and the inability to take bold economic reforms emerged as the two main reasons behind the lowering of the credibility of the UPA government. The Anna movement issue finds highest mention in the north: Lucknow (60 per cent) followed by Delhi (21 per cent). On economic reforms, the highest mentions were in the west: Ahmedabad (41 per cent) followed by Mumbai (26 per cent ). The two issues had a relatively higher impact in terms of lowering the credibility of the UPA government among the youth (18-25 years of age).

According to the survey, price rise and the worsening of the economic conditions were the two key areas where the government has failed to perform. About 4 out of 10 respondents feel that the Government's control over corruption has declined further. The dissatisfaction with the government on the issue of tackling corruption was the highest in Chennai and the lowest in Kolkata. Also, a majority of people felt that the threat of Naxal violence has remained the same or declined.

While 25 per cent of the respondents thought Rahul Gandhi made a good prime ministerial candidate, 39 per cent backed Modi.

However, Union Minister Salman Khurshid still feels that Dr Manmohan Singh is still the best man in the current situation.

"I don't think if we could have had a better person. In these times when we have been under a lot of stress, when we have a lot of questions raised about how India should be governed and India is being governed... he is the best person we could have had," Khurshid said.

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