Twenty-five opposition parties of the INDIA bloc on Monday adopted a five-point action plan that includes writing to the Chief Justice of India over alleged electoral irregularities, demanding the resignation of the union Education Minister, and pressing the Centre to convene an all-party meeting on the country’s economic challenges, as alliance leaders sought to project unity ahead of the Monsoon Session of Parliament.
Addressing a press conference after a meeting of alliance partners along with their leaders at the Constitution Club in New Delhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the opposition parties had reached a consensus on five key issues that would shape their coordinated political and parliamentary strategy in the coming months.
“We agreed on five points today, and we will work on these issues. The first point is that it was agreed to send a letter to the Chief Justice of India regarding FIRs, vote theft, and the stealing of elections. The letter will be delivered to the CJI very soon,” Kharge said.
He said the second decision was a unanimous demand for the immediate resignation of the Education Minister, alleging that lakhs of students appearing for NEET and CBSE examinations had been let down. “It was unanimously agreed to demand the immediate resignation of the Education Minister because he presided over the betrayal of lakhs of youth who appeared for the NEET and CBSE examinations,” Kharge said.
The alliance also called on the union government to immediately convene an all-party meeting to discuss what it described as a worsening economic situation. According to Kharge, the proposed meeting should focus on unemployment, rising prices, farmers’ concerns and other issues affecting ordinary citizens.
As part of efforts to institutionalise coordination within the opposition camp, the INDIA bloc decided that its constituent parties would meet every two months. Kharge announced that the next meeting would be held in Hyderabad on a date yet to be finalised.
The fifth decision concerned parliamentary strategy, with the alliance agreeing to continue close coordination during the upcoming Monsoon Session. Kharge said daily morning meetings would be held in the office of the Leader of the Opposition to ensure a unified approach on legislative and political issues.
Earlier, in his opening remarks at the meeting, Kharge urged opposition parties to strengthen unity in the face of what he described as growing political, economic, social and foreign policy challenges under the Narendra Modi government.
“Now we have to strengthen that spirit further and move forward,” he said, recalling that the INDIA alliance was formed nearly three years ago and had demonstrated its collective strength in Parliament. Referring to a joint opposition mobilisation in the Lok Sabha earlier this year, Kharge said alliance partners had successfully come together on key issues and needed to build on that momentum.
The Congress chief alleged that millions of citizens were being deprived of their voting rights through the Special Intensive Revision process and claimed that attacks on constitutional institutions were continuing. He also accused the Centre of misusing investigative agencies against political opponents and discriminating against states governed by non-BJP parties.
The meeting brought together a broad spectrum of opposition leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi of the Congress, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee, CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, PDP president Mehbooba Mufti, NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule, VCK chief Thol Thirumavalavan and CPI(M) MP John Brittas, among others. Several leaders, including Uddhav Thackeray and Hemant Soren, joined the proceedings virtually.
The gathering came amid renewed scrutiny of the INDIA alliance’s cohesion, with som
e key constituents absent from the meeting and questions being raised about the future direction of the opposition grouping. Despite those concerns, alliance leaders sought to present a united front and signalled their intention to intensify joint political and parliamentary action in the months ahead.
