Congress Faces Heat In INDIA Bloc Meeting
By A Special Correspondent
First publised on 2026-06-09 05:47:05
About the Author
The opposition INDIA bloc met on June 8 at the Constitution Club in New Delhi. This was the first formal meeting of the group after the 2024 general elections. 23 parties attended the meeting with the DMK and the AAP chose not to attend.
Although the bloc members reached consensus on five major points, as per reports, the meeting was marked by a veritable tug-of-war between the Congress and the smaller parties. The group decided to write to the CJI about alleged electoral irregularities and press for the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan amid the uproar over paper leaks and exam glitches.
While the Congress harped on unity among the members, the other parties asked it to display a bigger heart and take everyone along. Specifically, the CPM was aggrieved that the Congress had used vile remarks against the then chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the Kerala assembly campaign.
Some of the leaders, especially Akhilesh Yadav of the SP, was vociferous in his criticism of the Congress for ditching the DMK in Tamil Nadu and aligning with the TVK. The CPM also raised this point. Interestingly, none of the leaders took the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's charge seriously that there was large-scale 'vote chori' in the Bengal elections.
Rahul Gandhi, in his speech, tried to make light of the remarks against Vijayan saying that they were poll campaign remarks and should not be taken otherwise. He close not to reply to the criticism over ditching the DMK.
The group also demanded that PM Modi call an all-party meeting to discuss "worsening economic crisis, intensifying price rise, growing unemployment, atrocities and farmers' issues". They also decided to meet once every two months for better coordination.
