India block parties will hold an online meeting on Saturday before the monsoon session of Parliament. AAP and TMC, however, are giving a miss to the meeting.
While AAP says that it is no longer part of the block, TMC has officially cited the system for an annual party event.
For the organization of the organization KC Venugopal, the Congress Secretary posted on X: “A meeting of leaders of India will be held online on Saturday, 19 July 2025 to discuss the political situation prevalent in the country at 7.00 pm.”
Sources said that the meeting was coordinated by Rahul Gandhi and Venugopal’s Lok Sabha leader. Gandhi, it has learned, spoke to many top leaders. The monsoon session begins on 21 July.
The TMC said its leaders were busy with the July 21 rally, which marks the death of 13 people in police firing in Kolkata during the left rule in 1993.
However, the inner sources in the party stated that “the real reason” is “message” to its cadre before the West Bengal election. A TMC MP said: “We cannot share the stage many times with Congress and leftists because we are against them in our kingdom where elections are going to be held next year. We support the alliance on national issues, but that cannot mean that we follow their calls … We do not want to confuse our cadre. We will not be with alliances on issues in Parliament.”
AAP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh meanwhile, told the Indian Express: “We are no longer in India.” Singh has said in the past that India Block had fulfilled its objective in the Lok Sabha elections last year.
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The final meeting of the group was held on 5 June 2024 a day after the announcement of Lok Sabha election results. In that meeting, 21 parties were in attendance – including AAP and TMC.
Apart from the Congress, Saturday’s meeting will include Samajwadi Party, Shiv Sena (UBT), DMK, NCP (SP), Left parties, RJD, JMM and IUML.
India block was at a high level in June last year after the general election results. But as a result of a link to the assembly election deficit for the Congress, allies led the block to question the party’s credibility.
Despite being questioned about the future of the alliance since the results of the Haryana assembly elections in October last year, the parties have come together on many issues inside and outside Parliament.
Politics (T) Opposition Ekta (T) Assembly Elections (T) Indian Express
