New Delhi: The INDIA bloc—minus the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)—is set to head into a brainstorming session Saturday, in a bid to project Opposition unity ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament starting next week.
While the initial plan was for the meeting to be held at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence here, party general secretary (organisation) K.C. Venugopal clarified later Thursday that the meeting will be held virtually.
While opposition parties hold meetings of their floor leaders during Parliament sessions, the last formal gathering of the INDIA bloc took place on 5 June last year, the day after the announcement of the Lok Sabha results. That meeting, at Kharge’s residence, was attended by leaders of 21 opposition parties including the AAP and TMC.
Congress sources said Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Venugopal made calls to various leaders including Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, inviting them to the meeting.
Speaking to reporters in Patna earlier in the day, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav said, “I shall also be visiting Delhi later this week to attend the INDIA bloc meeting scheduled at the residence of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. I will take the opportunity to raise the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) strongly.”
In Mumbai, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said, “The meeting of INDIA bloc is going to be held in Delhi. Yesterday, we got a call from KC Venugopal ji. Uddhav Thackeray ji says that there is a need for a meeting of the INDIA bloc. We have picked the date of 19 July.”
The Monsoon Session of Parliament is scheduled to commence from 21 July. There will be a total of 21 sittings of both Houses till 21 August.
Sources said the TMC conveyed to the Congress—which dialled INDIA bloc parties for the meeting over the last few days—that it will not be able to send leaders to the meeting due to its preoccupation with arrangements for its annual 21 July rally. The rally commemorates the deaths of 13 people in police firing in Kolkata in 1993, when West Bengal was under Left rule.
TMC sources said that the party also doesn’t want to be seen sharing the dais with the Left and the Congress, which fight elections in West Bengal in an alliance, ahead of an election year.
Meanwhile, AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh has already declared that the party believes the INDIA bloc has served its purpose by denting the BJP’s numbers in the Lok Sabha elections, “the sole reason for which it was formed”. Since losing power in Delhi, the party has reverted to its familiar stance of equating the Congress and BJP as equally corrupt and bereft of any vision for the country’s future.
The bloc had then (after the June 2024 meeting) issued a statement resolving to continue its “fight against the fascist rule of the BJP led by Narendra Modi”.
Since then, however, the political landscape has shifted significantly. The BJP has secured a string of victories in subsequent assembly elections, regaining momentum after its underwhelming Lok Sabha performance, where it fell short of a simple majority. This resurgence has taken the wind out of the sails of the INDIA bloc.
The Congress found itself increasingly pushed to the corner by other INDIA bloc parties, which raised questions on its ability to lead the alliance owing to its assembly election losses, particularly in Haryana and Maharashtra. The breakdown in seat-sharing talks between the AAP and the Congress during Haryana elections heightened the level of rancour in the alliance.
The AAP went on to fight the Delhi elections alone, inviting strong attacks from the Congress leadership including Rahul Gandhi during the poll campaign. Parallely, there was also a concerted bid by various parties including the TMC, SP, NCP (SP) to project West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the convener of the alliance.
This is an updated version of the report
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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