The India Alliance held a meeting at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Monday to chalk out a strategy against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and strengthen opposition unity. Although the Aam Aadmi Party and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam abstained from meeting on June 8, 2026, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge criticized the central government’s poor governance and called for unity among the alliance partners.
Before the meeting, the Aam Aadmi Party had publicly announced its distance from the alliance. In Tamil Nadu, the Congress decided to boycott the DMK assembly after the Congress broke its alliance with the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and joined the TVK-led government. Earlier, the last formal meeting of the alliance was held on June 1, 2024, just before the Lok Sabha elections, after which around fifty leaders discussed electoral irregularities.
The meeting was attended by Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharg, along with Trinamool Congress leaders Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal’s Tejashwi Yadav, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah and leaders of the Left and other smaller parties were also present. Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray attended the meeting through virtual channel and party MP Sanjay Rau was also present.
At the start of the meeting, Congress President Kharge recalled the unity shown by the opposition against the Modi government’s Constituency Delimitation Bill in the Lok Sabha on April 17, 2026 and stressed on taking this unity forward. He alleged that attacks on the Constitution continued under the central government and investigative agencies were being used as tools to harass opposition political leaders. Describing the country’s economic situation as negative, Kharge said that investment is not coming in at the required rate to create new jobs and the complete mismanagement of the examination system has dashed the hopes of millions of youth.
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said the allies would take joint decisions and try to build a ‘friendly state’ and uphold democratic values. Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut has reiterated his commitment to the alliance that together they will tackle the serious challenges facing the country and bring about a meaningful change in 2029.
The meeting is considered to be particularly important given the recent political situation and the determination of the anti-BJP strategy. In the absence of major coalitions, the unity of the opposition leaders and the next outline of the upcoming political program will be clear only after the coalition’s collective decisions and next steps.