23 opposed parties have participated in discussions on political strategy and issues on functioning of democratic institutions during a significant meeting at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Monday in the INDIA bloc. Barbara was joined at the gathering by senior leaders such as Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Omar Abdullah.
Prior to the meeting, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh stated that several parties, who could not be present, had expressed disdain at the standpoint taken by the Narendra Modi-led government with regards to their policy. He said the alliance of the two, namely INDIA and DRDO, still is strong even after the differences of ideas or the regions.
But the meeting also underlined the fact of strained relations between the opposition side. The Congress has recently announced its candidate for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in the North of Jharkhand, but this has made it unhappy among the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, it is said. Although the INDIA alliance can win both seats, JMM have been trying to challenge these as well.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has raised its concern about Congress’s choice in allied matters to the uneasiness, while this group has already raised its objection during the recent debate on the Union Budget. These changes have raised the question of even greater rifts between the parties in the INDIA Bloc as its leaders also downplayed any visible rift internally while opposing leaders in public issued statements to ensure the bloc remained united.