At key Opposition meeting, an all-stars line-up and a rallying cry

Targeting the Central government over several issues, Kharge said the voting rights of millions of people were stripped away through the Special Intensive Roll (SIR) exercise

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, party MPs KC Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh after the INDIA bloc meeting, in New Delhi, Monday, June 8, 2026. (PTI Photo)

By: Express Web Desk

3 min readJun 8, 2026 01:55 PM IST First published on: Jun 8, 2026 at 01:16 PM IST

At the INDIA bloc meet on Monday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge outlined a strategic blueprint to rebuild their alliance against the Central government following setbacks in the recently concluded Assembly polls.

As twenty-three opposition parties attended the meet, Kharge urged their respective leaders to come forward to form a resistance against “Modi government’s misgovernance”. “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,” Kharge said.

INDIA की बैठक में मेरे शुरुआती वक्तव्य का अंश —

मैं INDIA समूह के नेताओं की इस बैठक में आप सभी का स्वागत करता हूं। यह समूह लगभग ठीक तीन साल पहले अस्तित्व में आया था। मैं ज्यादा नहीं बोलना चाहता, क्योंकि हमारे सामने मौजूद मुद्दे आप सभी अच्छी तरह जानते हैं।हमने 17 अप्रैल, 2026 को… pic.twitter.com/sgUB7UjDUg

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) June 8, 2026

Targeting the Central government over several issues, Kharge said the voting rights of millions of people were stripped away through the Special Intensive Roll (SIR) exercise, while prices of essential goods kept soaring, plaguing the common people. “The assault on the Constitution continues unabated. Investigative agencies are being persistently used as tools to harass, intimidate, and bully political opponents. Discrimination is being meted out against non-BJP governments,” he said while slamming the governance.

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“Prices of essential goods are continuously rising, and the economic environment is extremely negative. New investments are not coming in at the pace required to generate new jobs. Private monopolies are growing in many sectors, and the future of MSMEs is in a serious crisis,” he said, describing the economic situation of the country.

“Due to the complete mismanagement of the examination system, the hopes and aspirations of our lakhs of youth are being betrayed. Atrocities against the weaker sections of society, especially in BJP-ruled states, continue relentlessly. Our foreign policy has been completely compromised, and those traditional values that India has long staunchly supported have not been upheld,” Kharge said.

The INDIA bloc meeting held at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on Monday saw top opposition leaders coming together for the discussions. Among those present were Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mamata Banerjee, Tejashwi Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Supriya Sule, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti, apart from Kharge.

# Mallikarjun Kharge