The much-awaited UPA report card presentation ceremony turned out to be a sombre affair as the government did away with its earlier plans of a gala dinner and the usual hype surrounding such events in the wake of the recent Mangalore air crash.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Congress colleagues must have heaved a sigh of relief when Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee made a rare appearance at Tuesday'sprogramme. The Trinamool Congress leader has been keeping away from Cabinet meetings and has not toed the UPA government's line on several crucial issues. She had skipped Tuesday's cabinet meeting earlier in the day despite being in the capital.
Banerjee sat next to Congress President Sonia Gandhi and was seen chatting with her. The two were seen smiling while discussing the report card. Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, with a fuller beard this time, sat with Home Minister P Chidambaram and Minister of State for Railways E Ahamed.
Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, Defence Minister A K Antony and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee sat in the same group. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Musilameen MP Asadudin Owaisi was also present on the occasion. When Singh and Sonia Gandhi entered the hall, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP T R Baalu presented a shawl to the two of them.
While inaugurating the report card, Sonia Gandhi held the Hindi version while the PM presented the English one. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and his party member and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel were also present.
The prime minister rendered a short speech on his government's achievements in the first year of UPA-II. Once the ceremony was over, the leaders walked away together for refreshments.
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