The test is all the more severe on foreign soil amid hectic international engagements that include an encounter with Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif in the wake of escalating terror strikes and opposition attacks.
If Rahul Gandhi's remarks amount to public humiliation for the PM and his government, Singh will take care not to let it show. Congress president Sonia Gandhi's soothing words must be helping his efforts. She called him to reassure the party's support. Sources said the call was to assuage any hurt.
Even Rahul, in his letter to the PM written today, emphasized his respect for Singh and his leadership.
The Congress decision to release contents of the letter pointed to damage control efforts against the backdrop of the rising perception that the Congress vice-president's dramatic performance was a direct humiliation of the PM's office.
The letter from the Congress vice-president was meant to emphasize that his defiance was over a matter of principle rather than disrespect the Prime Minister.
Statements released on Singh's behalf from the US indicate that the attempt was succeeding. A reference to Rahul having written to him and the promise that the Cabinet will consider his views on Singh's return don't signal defiance or a bruised ego.
The manner Rahul rubbished the ordinance to help convicted legislators far surpassed the tongue lashings CPM boss Prakash Karat handed out to Singh over the nuclear deal with the US during UPA-1.
The incident shreds what remains of Singh's prime ministerial authority - already eroded by scams ranging from Commonwealth Games to Coalgate. Many of his Cabinet colleagues apparently resent PMO directions.
But the stiffest cost the PM will pay is in the eyes of the public that has in the past seen him as a PLU, a man who enshrines middle class values of hard work and honesty.
Singh, increasingly seen as a leader who failed to check corruption, will find his esteem further lowered by Rahul's actions. Not too long ago, Singh would have been expected to stand up to such an ordinance rather than swimming with the political class.
The alacrity with which Congress ministers - including many who didn't bat an eyelid in ratifying the ordinance in the Cabinet - raced to greet Rahul's criticism of the government can only have made matters worse.
It was left to Sanjaya Baru, a former media advisor to the PM, to bat for Singh, saying Rahul's remarks smacked of insubordination and that Singh must immediately quit. The consensus in Congress is that Singh is unlikely to do so. In fact, Baru himself said the PM has the ability to take knocks on his chin.
The PM's dilemma could be acute. On the one hand, trashing of the ordinance is a public insult. But throwing a fit over defending the rights of convicted legislators is hardly a noble cause. It does not seem an attractive option.
Till now, differences between Congress's first family and the government have been carefully managed. Sonia Gandhi has ensured that no slight is ever offered to the PM and scrupulously stuck to protocol.
Only recently, on UPA-2's fourth anniversary, Sonia praised Singh for remaining dignified in the face of vitriolic opposition attacks. She has always emphasized that Singh will complete his term.
Rahul, too, has been deferential. Asked a few months ago about his then impending new party responsibilities, he said it would be up to his "two bosses" - Sonia and Singh.
The PM reciprocated, dismissing suggestions that he and Sonia are not on the same page over legislation like food security and land acquisition. On Rahul, Singh went to the extent of saying he is ready to work under the leader.
Genuflection to 10 Janpath hardly evokes comment in Congress. It is pretty much the done thing. The PM is unlikely to misread the mood in his party. But he may hold a grouse that the ordinance isn't his brainchild and he had gone along with what Congress wanted. This is, as far as can be ascertained, what happened.
Some shrewder Congress brains felt Singh was sore at what he feels is inadequate acknowledgement that the policies he shaped during UPA-1 helped the party win a handsome victory in 2009.
For all his hardy political armour, Singh is quite sensitive when the fires of controversy reach him. He bristles at being attacked for corruption by the opposition and is wary of being named in any scam, be it 2G or Coalgate.
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