Amid disarray within the INDIA bloc, with at least three major constituents—the DMK, the CPI(M) and the JMM—raising questions about Monday’s meeting (June 8, 2026) of the Opposition coalition, the Congress on Sunday (June 7, 2026) sought to project unity, asserting that 23 parties would participate in the gathering in Delhi and that even those skipping it had conveyed their “strong opposition” to the Narendra Modi government’s policies.

The bloc has been grappling with one crisis after another. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has already announced that it will not attend the meeting, calling the Congress’s decision to tie up with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) in Tamil Nadu a “betrayal”.

Separately, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary M.A. Baby has written to all INDIA bloc partners, underlining the Congress’ campaign against the Left in Kerala, while Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) is learnt to be unhappy with the Congress unilaterally announcing its candidate for one of the two Rajya Sabha seats that are up for election in Jharkhand. 

Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said 23 political parties had confirmed participation in the “INDIA janbandhan” meeting. “There are some parties that have expressed their inability to attend this particular meeting for their own reasons, even though they have conveyed their strong opposition to the Modi government’s policies,” Mr. Ramesh said.