INDIA bloc parties will hold an online meeting on Saturday ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament. AAP and TMC, however, are giving the meeting a miss.
While the AAP says it’s no longer part of the bloc, the TMC has officially cited arrangements for an annual party event.
Congress secretary in-charge for organisation KC Venugopal posted on X: “A meeting of the leaders of the INDIA parties will be held online on Saturday, 19th July 2025, at 7.00 pm to discuss the prevailing political situation in the country.”
The meeting was coordinated by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi and Venugopal, said sources. Gandhi, it is learnt, spoke to several top leaders. The Monsoon Session begins on July 21.
The TMC said its leaders were busy with arrangements for the July 21 rally that marks the death of 13 people in police firing in Kolkata during Left rule in 1993.
Party insiders, however, said the “real reason” is the “messaging” to its cadre ahead of the West Bengal election. A TMC MP said: “We can’t be sharing the stage too frequently with Congress and the Left because we are up against them in our state where elections are due next year. We support the alliance on national issues but that can’t mean we follow their call… We don’t want to confuse our cadre. We will be with the alliance on issues in Parliament, but won’t be with them too frequently,” said the MP.
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, meanwhile, told The Indian Express: “We are not in the INDIA bloc anymore.” Singh has said in the past that the INDIA bloc had served its purpose in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
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The grouping’s last meeting was on June 5, 2024, a day after the Lok Sabha election results were announced. At that meeting, 21 parties were in attendance — including the AAP and TMC.
Apart from the Congress, Saturday’s meeting will include Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), DMK, NCP (SP), the Left parties, RJD, JMM and IUML.
The INDIA bloc was on a high in June last year after the general election results. But a string of Assembly election losses for the Congress resulted in allies questioning the party’s credentials to lead the bloc.
Despite questions being raised about the future of the alliance since the results of the Haryana Assembly elections in October last year, the parties have come together on several issues inside and outside Parliament.
