Opposition INDIA bloc meeting — to forge unity and rework their strategy to take on the BJP — began in New Delhi on June 8, 2026.
Opposition parties’ top leaders, including Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah attended the meeting.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray attended the INDIA bloc meeting virtually. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said, “Shiv Sena (UBT) remains a committed member of the INDIA alliance. Our consistent stance has been—and will continue to be—that the INDIA bloc becomes more united and stronger.”
Mr. Raut said “We will fight together against the grave challenges facing the nation and bring meaningful change in 2029.”
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In his opening remarks, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said “We demonstrated our solidarity and unity in a decisive manner in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 2026, when we stood firmly together to defeat the Modi government’s malicious bills regarding delimitation.”
Mr. Kharge further said “We must now strengthen and carry forward that same spirit to confront the myriad political, economic, social, and foreign policy challenges facing the country due to the Modi government’s misgovernance.”
Mr. Kharge charged that the assault on the Constitution continues and probe agencies are persistently being used as tools to harass, intimidate, and bully political opponents.
He also highlighted that the economic environment is extremely negative and new investments are not coming in at the pace required to generate new jobs.
The Congress chief also pointed to the “complete mismanagement” of the examination system, which has dashed the hopes and aspirations of lakhs of youth.
Batting for unity among Opposition leaders, he said, “On April 17, 2026, we demonstrated our unity and solidarity in the Lok Sabha in a very decisive manner, when we all came together firmly to defeat the Modi government’s malicious bills on delimitation.
“Now we must strengthen that same spirit even further and move forward, so that we can confront the many political, economic, social, and foreign policy challenges facing the country due to the Modi government’s misgovernance,” Mr. Kharge said at the start of the meeting.
“The assault on the Constitution continues unabated. Investigative agencies are being persistently used as tools to harass, intimidate, and bully political opponents,” he alleged, adding discrimination is being meted out against non-BJP governments.
Asked about the meeting agenda, Akhilesh Yadav said decisions would be taken collectively by alliance partners.
“We will decide the agenda in the meeting,” Yadav told reporters, adding that efforts would be made to move towards a “bandhu rashtra”. It was important to safeguard democratic values, he said.
CPI general secretary D Raja said the meeting was significant as it was being held after a considerable gap and at a time when constituent parties had several issues requiring discussion.
(WIth inputs from PTI)
Published - June 08, 2026 12:52 pm IST
alliances and coalition / Indian National Congress / All India Trinamool Congress / Samajwadi Party / Jammu and Kashmir National Conference
Source: The Hindu - India News
