New Delhi: A opinion poll conducted by CNN-IBN and Hindustan Times on the eve of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government completing its first year in office on Monday has thrown up some interesting facts.

According to experts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who the Opposition alleged to be a 'weak leader', is seen as effective, firmly in control and purposeful in the second UPA Government despite failing to impress critics on the issue of price rise and corruption among his ministerial colleagues.

The findings are ironic in the sense that during the 2009 elections, the Opposition's main poll plank was that Singh was a 'weak leader'. Neither the voters bought the Opposition line then and nor do the experts now.

Among those polled, 61 per cent rate Dr Manmohan Singh as effective, speedy and purposeful while seven per cent see him as unimaginative and slow. Only four per cent feel that he is ham-handed and inconsistent. Significantly 28 per cent think he needs to be bolder.


However, despite the overall positive findings, the experts have rated the Prime Minister poorly on critical issues of price rise and stemming corruption.


Thirty-one per cent of respondents say that the Prime Minister failed to be tough on corrupt and tainted ministers while 39 per cent think that his inability to check prices was his biggest failure.


Nevertheless, despite the mounting controversies involving ministers in UPA's second term in office, experts still rate the Prime Minister as hands-on.


Forty-two per cent respondents rate him as being very firmly in charge whereas 24 per cent see him as an out of the box thinker.

However, foreign policy seems to be his biggest drawback. As fallout of the Sharm-el-Sheikh fiasco, only seven per cent agreed he was successful in building political consensus over foreign policies.

On the issue of building political consensus over domestic policies, 20 per cent think Manmohan Sigh carried his party along; 24 percent think he has improved Indo-US ties while 37 per cent think he saved India from serious spillover from world recession and led to economic growth.

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