Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 4: In a manifestation of the deepening crisis within the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, the DMK, the erstwhile ruling party of Tamil Nadu, on Thursday announced its decision to skip the June 8 meeting in New Delhi of the alliance because of its differences with the Congress which leads the opposition conglomeration.
Led by the former Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin, the DMK has taken to the heart the Congress party’s turn around after the April Tamil Nadu Assembly elections breaking the decades-old alliance with the DMK and extending support to the actor-turned-politician C Joseph Vijay and his political outfit the Tamilaga Vettri Kazagham (TVK) to form the government in Tamil Nadu.
The DMK viewed the Congress move as a “betrayal” and backstabbing even though the party allowed several other alliance partners to extend similar support to the TVK to be able to claim a majority to be sworn-in and later even join the government headed by Mr Vijay. The DMK leaders publicly accused the Congress of “betrayal” and “backstabbing,” arguing that the party abandoned a decades-old partnership for political expediency.
While the Congress maintained that it extended support to the TVK to avoid the state being placed under the President’s Rule allowing an indirect control of the BJP through the governor, the DMK was not amused.
The rift has already spilled over into Parliament. In a significant indication of the breakdown in ties, DMK MP Kanimozhi recently wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla seeking separate seating arrangements for DMK MPs, citing “changed political circumstances” after the split with the Congress. The move was widely viewed as the first formal manifestation of the fracture within the INDIA bloc.
In a statement on Thursday, the DMK said, “In view of the sentiments of DMK cadres, who continue to feel deeply hurt by what they consider the betrayal committed by the Congress party against the DMK following the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections, and in respect of those sentiments, the DMK will not participate in the INDIA alliance meeting to be held in New Delhi on June 8, particularly as it is a meeting in which the Congress party will be taking part. While the DMK will not attend this meeting, it will continue, as always, to raise its voice on issues affecting the welfare of the nation that may be brought forward by the other parties participating in the meeting.”
Senior leaders of the opposition INDIA bloc are likely to convene in New Delhi on June 8 after a gap of about two years, to chalk out a joint strategy against the BJP-led government and strengthen coordination among alliance partners. The proposed meeting, expected to be attended by leaders from around 15 opposition parties, comes in the wake of recent assembly election setbacks for two key INDIA bloc constituents, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the DMK in Tamil Nadu, both of which were voted out of power.
Among those likely to participate are TMC supremo and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, the sources said. The Aam Aadmi Party has already publicly distanced itself from the INDIA bloc and is not expected to attend the meeting, which is scheduled to be held at the Constitution Club of India.
According to sources, the gathering is being seen as an attempt to deepen coordination among opposition parties amid evolving political equations across states and renewed concerns within the alliance after the recent electoral setbacks.
The last official meeting of the INDIA bloc was held in New Delhi on June 1, 2024, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, on August 7, 2025, Rahul Gandhi hosted a strategy dinner for senior INDIA bloc leaders at his New Delhi residence. The meeting, attended by nearly 50 leaders from over 25 opposition parties, focused on issues including alleged electoral manipulation and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls in Bihar.
Since then, INDIA bloc leaders have coordinated mainly during consultations ahead of Parliament sessions, discussing floor strategy and issues to jointly raise against the Centre, including attempts to move notices seeking the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.