New Delhi [India], June 7 (ANI): Ahead of the INDIA bloc meeting on June 8, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday asserted that the opposition alliance stays united despite some parties choosing to opt out of attendance due to their “respective reasons”.
In an ‘X’ post, Ramesh announced that twenty-three political parties will be in attendance at the meeting, which will take place at the Constitution Club in the national capital.
Ramesh emphasised that despite not being in attendance, the parties have conveyed their opposition to the “policies and actions” of the Central government.
“…They have strongly opposed those policies and actions of the Modi government that are stripping millions of Indians of their right to vote, attacking the Constitution daily, targeting opposition leaders through investigative agencies, causing serious harm to the livelihoods of crores of Indians, continuously disrupting household budgets through relentless inflation, betraying the hopes and aspirations of lakhs of youth, weakening the investment climate, and compromising national interests through their foreign policy. Like India, INDIA Janbandhan stands united with its diversity,” said Ramesh on ‘X’.
The meeting is crucial for the opposition grouping not only due to the challenge posed by the growing political dominance of the BJP but also due to the differences within.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), which has been a staunch pillar of the INDIA Bloc, has decided not to participate in the meeting over “betrayal” by Congress in Tamil Nadu, which decided to back the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) after the elections.
The meeting is crucial for the opposition grouping not only due to the challenge posed by the growing political dominance of the BJP but also due to the differences within.
DMK, which has been a staunch pillar of the INDIA Bloc, has decided not to participate in the meeting over “betrayal” by Congress in Tamil Nadu, which decided to back the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) after the elections.
Congress contested the polls as part of the DMK-led alliance and won five seats. Congress’s decision turned the relationship between the two parties sour.
In the letter announcing their decision to not attend the meeting, DMK said it will continue, “as always, to raise its voice on issues affecting the welfare of the nation that may be brought forward by the other parties participating in the meeting”.
Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee on Sunday left for Delhi to take part in the INDIA bloc meeting. TMC leaders Dola Sen and Kalyan Banerjee were also present at the Kolkata airport.
This is the first meeting of the INDIA bloc after the Trinamool Congress lost the West Bengal assembly polls.
After the BJP’s sweeping victory in West Bengal, the Trinamool Congress has also faced internal dissent following the rebellion of 58 MLAs supporting expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee.
Reports suggest up to 20 Lok Sabha MPs may also break away from the party. In response, TMC has announced a leadership shuffle, with Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen appointed as Joint Secretaries at the national level and Chandrima Bhattacharya taking over state leadership responsibilities from the unwell Subrata Bakshi.
The CPI(M) has also conveyed its concern to Congress over the “systematic campaign” against its leadership during the Keralam assembly polls, but the party has decided that John Brittas, MP, will attend the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled to take place on Monday.
CPI(M) general secretary MA Baby has written to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking clarification over allegations made by Congress leaders during the Keralam Assembly elections against the party and its leadership.
In the letter, Baby said he had been informed by Congress general secretary KC Venugopal about the INDIA bloc meeting and raised concerns over what he described as a “systematic campaign” by the Congress leadership in Keralam that alleged that the CPI(M) and the BJP had struck a deal.
He stated that Congress leaders, including Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi and Kharge himself, had repeatedly alleged during the election campaign that senior CPI(M) leader and then Keralam Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had reached an understanding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I have been informed by KC Venugopal about the meeting of the INDIA bloc parties to be held on June 8, 2026. In this connection, I would like to cite a recent political development during the assembly elections. There was a systematic campaign by the Congress leadership during the Keralam Assembly elections, that the CPI(M) and the BJP have struck a deal,” MA Baby said.
“Further, it was alleged that the CPI(M)’s senior leader, Member of the Polit Bureau and then Chief Minister, Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, had also struck a deal with Modi. The question was posed, ‘Otherwise, why is it that he has not been interrogated or arrested by the Enforcement Directorate? These were not stray remarks made in the heat of an election campaign, but were the centrepiece of your political campaign. Every national leader, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi, and you, made such allegations repeatedly,” he added.
The CPI(M) leader said the INDIA bloc was created as a broad platform to politically fight the BJP and parties with differing ideologies had come together for that purpose.
On the flip side, West Bengal Minister and BJP leader Agnimitra Paul questioned the relevance of the INDIA bloc, noting that CPI-M General Secretary MA Baby had already written to Congress over allegations of a CPI-M-BJP understanding and TMC is in disarray under former Mamata Banerjee’s leadership.
“The INDIA alliance has been completely sidelined and discarded by the people of the nation,” she said.
While Jairam Ramesh maintains that the coalition remains “unified” in its ideological opposition to the Central government, the absence of DMK and the simmering internal disputes suggest a complex path forward.
With the bloc navigating the intensifying friction between its own member parties, the coming meeting will likely prove to be pivotal in determining whether the “INDIA Janbandhan” can bridge its internal divides or if it faces further fragmentation in the face of ongoing political challenges. (ANI)
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