'INDIA janbandhan' united, 23 parties have confirmed participation: Congress

NEW DELHI: Twenty-three political parties have confirmed their participation in the "INDIA janbandhan" meeting at the Constitution Club here on Monday, the Congress said and asserted that the opposition bloc continues to stand united through its diversity.

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said there are some parties that have expressed their inability to attend this particular meeting for their own reasons.

In a post on X, he said, "23 political parties have confirmed participation in the INDIA janbandhan meeting at Constitution Club, New Delhi, on Monday, June 8, 2026, at 12 noon." Tagging Ramesh's post, TMC MP Derek O'Brien said, “Meeting with a common purpose and clear intent. INDIA united. Many parties look forward to meeting in the spirit of camaraderie.” "There are some parties who 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 and actions that are snatching away the right to vote for millions of Indians, assaulting the Constitution daily, attacking Opposition leaders through investigative agencies, seriously damaging the livelihoods of crores of Indians, breaking household budgets through relentless price rise, betraying the hopes and aspirations of lakhs of youth, dampening investment climate, and compromising the national interest by its foreign policy," said the Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh.

Like India, the "INDIA janbandhan" continues to stand united through its diversity, he asserted.

The INDIA bloc is set to deliberate on the future course of action with an eye on the 2029 general elections.

It would look to devise a joint strategy to corner the Modi government on national issues.

The meeting also comes amid strain in ties among some constituents of the bloc, with DMK set to skip the meeting over what it has described as Congress' "betrayal" in Tamil Nadu and the CPI(M) expressing its displeasure over the allegation by top Congress leaders that the Left had colluded with the BJP in Kerala.

According to sources, CPI(M) general secretary M A Baby has recently written to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking clarification on remarks by senior Congress leaders that suggested a political understanding between the CPI(M) and the BJP in Kerala.

The meeting also comes in the backdrop of the recent assembly elections in which TMC and DMK were ousted from power in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

The gathering is being seen as an effort to deepen coordination among opposition parties, particularly after the recent round of assembly elections and amid evolving political equations in several states.

The AAP has publicly distanced itself from the bloc, while the DMK this week announced its decision to boycott the meeting.

In the past, the INDIA bloc leadership has also got together formally for consultations ahead of Parliament sessions, when opposition parties discussed floor coordination and issues to be jointly raised against the central government.