INDIA Bloc Parties Hold Online Meeting Ahead Of Parliament's Monsoon Session

INDIA bloc parties on Saturday held deliberations at an online meeting to reach a consensus on issues that they would raise to corner the government during Parliament's Monsoon session beginning July 21 and convey a message of unity.

Twenty-four political parties, including the Congress, TMC, DMK, RJD, SP, NCP-SP, Shiv Sena (UBT), JMM, CPI-M, CPI, CPI-ML, Forward Bloc, IUML and Kerala Congress, participated in the discussions.

The meeting came ahead of the Monsoon session, which begins on Monday. The opposition grouping met after a long gap as they jointly deliberated on the country's political situation.

"Leaders of 24 political parties belonging to the INDIA group have just begun their online pre-Parliament meeting," AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X after the meeting began.

The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party chief Sonia Gandhi, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, NCP (SP)'s Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray (SS-UBT), Abhishek Banerjee (TMC), Tejashwi Yadav (RJD), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Tiruchi Siva (DMK) M A Baby of CPI-M, D Raja (CPI), CPI(ML) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya, among others.

The leaders deliberated on a host of key issues, including the Election Commission's special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in Bihar, the demand for a discussion on the Pahalgam attack, and Operation Sindoor.

The opposition parties are raising strong objections to the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and are demanding that it be scrapped now, as assembly elections are slated in the next few weeks there. They have also been demanding answers on the Pahalgam attack and Operation Sindoor and the losses that the country has suffered during it.

US President Donald Trump's claims of bringing about a halt in hostilities between India and Pakistan, and the push to impeach Justice Yashwant Varma, who is embroiled in a row following the discovery of burnt wads of currency at his residence after a fire incident, are also likely to feature in the discussions.

During the Parliament session, the top Congress leadership has resolved to raise issues such as the demand for the restoration of full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir and rising atrocities against women in the country.

The opposition party has also decided to raise farmers' problems, the issues of rising unemployment, safety and security of the country and the Ahmedabad air crash during the session.

Sonia Gandhi had convened a meeting of the party's parliamentary strategy group at her 10, Janpath residence here on Tuesday evening.

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