UPA-II has had reasonable achievement: PM

In his first press conference in the last four years, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described the first year of the United Progressive Alliance-II as one of "reasonable achievement" but said his government could have done more.

"I believe that the record of our first year of UPA-II is a record of reasonable achievement. I am the first person to admit that we could have done more," Singh said.

He said one should not be satisfied with "what we have achieved".

"There is always room for improvement and for better outcome. But I do believe that the record of our first year is a record of reasonable achievement," he said.

He also strongly dismissed suggestions of "mistrust" between him and Congress president Sonia Gandhi, saying he received constant advice and guidance from her.

Singh, who addressed his first press conference here in four years, said there was not an "iota of mistrust or distrust between me and the Congress president."

"(There is) no question of gap in thinking between me and the Congress president... She is the leader of the UPA and she is the president of the Congress party and I am a Congressman," Singh said when asked about reported differences between the government and the party on a host of issues.

He said he meets Gandhi once in a week to discuss the political developments as well as issues related to governance.

"Invariably we (Sonia Gandhi and me) meet every week to discuss major issues. There is no basis to believe that there is no effective mechanism to deal with issues between Congress and the government," the Prime Minister said.

"(There is) not an iota of truth in (suggestions) that there is any mistrust or distrust between me and the Congress president," he said.