- Rahul Gandhi urged allies to unite against BJP, stressing strength in numbers
- He expressed disappointment over allies' lack of support on vote manipulation issues
- Opposition agreed to petition Chief Justice on voter list manipulation concerns
United we stand, divided we fall was the message from Rahul Gandhi at the INDIA bloc meet on Monday, underscoring that there's safety in numbers.
For this to happen, Rahul Gandhi warned, allies should acknowledge the need to work together to fend off the challenge from the principal rival, the BJP.
At the meeting, Rahul Gandhi warned allies against "pulling down each other" and urged them to fight together against the BJP "for the sake of the country and the Constitution".
During his nearly 15-minute address, the Leader of the Opposition is learnt to have expressed disappointment over the lack of support from some partners on issues such as alleged "vote chori" and also took aim at parties that frequently criticise and target the Congress despite being part of the alliance.
Sources said parties like Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool and the Left came under criticism.
The alliance reached a consensus to formally petition the Chief Justice of India regarding serious concerns surrounding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process and alleged manipulation of voter lists. The bloc intends to submit this letter to the Chief Justice at the earliest opportunity.
The Congress leader argued that the BJP was not "difficult to defeat", pointing to the last Lok Sabha election, and said the Opposition must avoid weakening itself through constant infighting.
The BJP secured 240 seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, far short of its 303 seats in 2019. The Congress rose to 99 seats in 2024. It had secured only 52 seats in 2029.
The latest example of unity in the Lok Sabha was the Opposition coming together to defeat the Centre's Delimitation Bill.
"On April 17, 2026, we demonstrated our unity and solidarity in the Lok Sabha in a very decisive manner when we all came together firmly to defeat the Modi government's malicious bills on delimitation. Now we must strengthen that same spirit even further and move forward, so that we can confront the many political, economic, social, and foreign policy challenges facing the country due to the Modi government's misgovernance," Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said.
The Opposition bloc meeting comes nearly a month after polls in four states. The BJP formed governments in Assam and Bengal. The Congress emerged victorious in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, superstar Vijay was the big winner.
The bloc, which came into existence three years ago, has decided that it will meet every two months. The next meeting will be held in Hyderabad in August.
