INDIA bloc meet: Pressure on us after poll defeats, say Soren, Akhilesh

NEW DELHI: Buffeted by political drift and marginalisation of its key pillars, INDIA bloc on Monday decided to meet every two months to enhance cohesion in its functioning to counter the BJP onslaught. Its next meeting in Aug in Hyderabad will discuss an “organisational structure” for the common platform.

Taking stock of the state of the opposition in the wake of the defeat of key members of TMC and RJD in their strongholds, and DMK walking out of the fold, the members acknowledged the weakening of the opposition — put in sharp relief by the presence of TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, whose party is facing an existential crisis.

“Pressure” was the word used by key members — JMM’s Hemant Soren and Samajwadi Party’s Akhilesh Yadav — to describe the present status. The Jharkhand CM, who joined the meeting online, is learnt to have said that he is “under pressure”, in what was seen as a reference to Jharkhand being the only remaining opposition state in the East. SP chief Akhilesh, who spoke first after Mallikarjun Kharge’s opening remarks, said the opposition had hoped that it would win in Bihar and West Bengal, but the defeats there have put pressure on Uttar Pradesh.

For the first time, Tamil Nadu was not represented by its major player DMK, but by CM Vijay’s TVK.

Rahul Gandhi said a struggle against the BJP was the need of the hour. It was felt that the opposition should coordinate with the “people’s struggle” led by non-political groups. Meanwhile, Mamata said that Congress should take the lead in INDIA bloc. NC’s Omar Abdullah and RJD’s Tejashwi Yadav said the alliance should focus on the 2029 polls, with Abdullah calling Congress the national glue. Akhilesh and Tejashwi asked Congress to show a big heart and back the regional players on their turf.