Communist Party of India (Marxist) General Secretary M.A. Baby on Monday, 8 June confirmed he would not attend the INDIA bloc meeting convened in New Delhi, even as he was categorical that the party has not broken with the opposition alliance. The absence, he said, was a direct response to what he described as baseless attacks by senior Congress leaders against the CPI(M) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF).

What CPI(M) Said

M.A. Baby stated that Congress leaders had, during the Lok Sabha elections and subsequent Assembly elections, repeatedly alleged that the CPI(M) and the LDF had an 'underhand deal' with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) — charges he called 'preposterous and baseless.' He said he had written a formal letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, with copies sent to all INDIA bloc members, to register the party's protest.

'Such preposterous and baseless allegations against our party are unacceptable,' Baby said. He added that CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member John Brittas would represent the party at the meeting in his place, underlining that the boycott was personal and positional — not a withdrawal from the bloc.

The Congress Coordination Problem

Baby's sharpest criticism was directed at what he characterised as Congress's failure to function as a genuine coalition anchor. 'We should expect Congress, which is the main opposition party today, to coordinate with other opposition parties and take them into confidence. That is not happening from the Congress right now,' he said, urging the party to 'correct this aberration' if it is serious about building a strong opposition to the BJP.

This is not an isolated grievance. The INDIA bloc meeting — taking place after a prolonged gap — has already been clouded by the absence of key constituents. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) have also either stayed away or publicly aired discontent with Congress's conduct.

DMK and CPI Weigh In

Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja confirmed that the DMK had issued a public statement — circulated nationally, not just in Tamil Nadu — citing specific issues with Congress and its conduct as its reason for skipping the meeting. Raja added that the agenda for the day's gathering remained unclear ahead of its start: which parties would attend, which leaders would be present, and what issues would be taken up were all unknown until proceedings began.

What This Signals for the INDIA Bloc

The fractures on display ahead of the meeting point to a deeper coordination deficit within the INDIA alliance. The bloc was forged in mid-2023 as a broad anti-BJP front, but managing the competing electoral interests of regional parties — particularly in states where Congress and Left or regional outfits directly contest each other — has proved persistently difficult. Notably, this is not the first time Congress's inter-party communication has drawn criticism from within the alliance.

Whether the meeting produces a common minimum position or a fresh round of public recrimination will determine the bloc's credibility heading into the next political cycle.