Following recent assembly election losses for the TMC and DMK, the INDIA bloc convened in Delhi with 25 participating parties, agreeing on a five-point agenda focused on collective action. Key resolutions include sending a letter to the Chief Justice of India concerning the SIR issue and alleged vote theft, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly betraying young people's trust, and urging the Union government to call an all-party meeting to address the economic crisis, unemployment, farmers' issues, and price rise. The bloc also committed to holding general meetings every two months and daily parliamentary coordination meetings during sessions, despite past inter-party rivalries, such as those between the Congress and TMC, and the CPI(M)'s reservations. Notably, both the National Conference and PDP from Kashmir attended, while the issue of bloc leadership, coordination mechanisms, and preventing state-level rivalries remained unaddressed.

Following recent assembly election losses for the TMC and DMK, the INDIA bloc convened in Delhi with 25 participating parties, agreeing on a five-point agenda focused on collective action. Key resolutions include sending a letter to the Chief Justice of India concerning the SIR issue and alleged vote theft, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly betraying young people's trust, and urging the Union government to call an all-party meeting to address the economic crisis, unemployment, farmers' issues, and price rise. The bloc also committed to holding general meetings every two months and daily parliamentary coordination meetings during sessions, despite past inter-party rivalries, such as those between the Congress and TMC, and the CPI(M)'s reservations. Notably, both the National Conference and PDP from Kashmir attended, while the issue of bloc leadership, coordination mechanisms, and preventing state-level rivalries remained unaddressed.

Following recent assembly election losses for the TMC and DMK, the INDIA bloc convened in Delhi with 25 participating parties, agreeing on a five-point agenda focused on collective action. Key resolutions include sending a letter to the Chief Justice of India concerning the SIR issue and alleged vote theft, demanding the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan for allegedly betraying young people's trust, and urging the Union government to call an all-party meeting to address the economic crisis, unemployment, farmers' issues, and price rise. The bloc also committed to holding general meetings every two months and daily parliamentary coordination meetings during sessions, despite past inter-party rivalries, such as those between the Congress and TMC, and the CPI(M)'s reservations. Notably, both the National Conference and PDP from Kashmir attended, while the issue of bloc leadership, coordination mechanisms, and preventing state-level rivalries remained unaddressed.

After the recent round of assembly elections held last month, which saw two powerful political players, the TMC and the DMK, lose the assembly elections in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, respectively, an INDIA bloc meeting was held at the Constitution Club of India in Delhi, where the alliance partners agreed on a five-point agenda.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said 25 parties participated in the INDIA bloc meeting and agreed on five key points. The leaders resolved to work collectively and intensify their fight on the agreed agenda. It was decided that a letter would be sent to the Chief Justice of India regarding the SIR issue and the alleged vote theft, with the communication to be delivered soon.

The meeting also unanimously demanded the immediate resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, alleging that he had betrayed the trust of millions of young people. Further, the bloc called on the Union government to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the economic crisis, unemployment, farmers' issues, price rise and other people-centric concerns. The parties also agreed to hold INDIA bloc meetings every two months, with dates to be announced later, while parliamentary coordination meetings would continue every morning during parliamentary sessions at the office of the Leader of the Opposition.

During the Lok Sabha elections, Mamata had refused to accommodate the Congress in seat-sharing arrangements, and in the assembly elections too, the Congress and TMC targeted each other in their campaigns. Notably, it was Mamata Banerjee who requested Rahul Gandhi to hold the Opposition bloc's meeting after she lost the assembly elections to the BJP.

Interestingly, the opposing parties in the Kashmir region—the National Conference led by Omar Abdullah and the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti—both attended the meeting.

According to sources, the CPI(M) was contacted by the Congress. The Left party reiterated that the Congress had called it BJP-aligned and targeted it in multiple ways, even though the party stands against the RSS ideology. "It was conveyed to them that the fight was a state-level one and the parties talk against each other in assembly elections, but we can come together at the national level," a Congress source aware of the matter said.

Yet Congress leaders said that their narrative against the CPI(M) was not a pointed one, but the grand old party claimed through its various salvos that the Left party was behaving in a way that could give space to the BJP.

From the JMM side, it was Sarfaraz Alam who represented the party, while Hemant Soren was also present online.

The opposition, which has shown innumerable cracks in the past during both state-level and national elections, has often struggled as parties sought to protect their own turfs, with many regional parties viewing the Congress as an expansive force. After the meeting, there was no mention of the leadership issue that the bloc continues to suffer from, nor was there any resolution on the group's coordination mechanism. There was also no discussion on preventing state-level rivalries arising from competing interests.

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