Days before the crucial Indian National Development Alliance bloc meeting, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby attacked Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for claiming a link between the BJP and the Left, and for demanding a security probe against then Prime Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the election campaign in Kerala.
Pepe added that he would not attend the meeting “due to previous commitments” and would send John Brittas.
First meeting since December 2023
The meeting, scheduled to be held in the national capital on June 8, is being closely watched as it is the first assembly meeting since December 2023. Since then, the India Bloc has lost the Lok Sabha elections and won only two of the 14 state elections that followed.
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While the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Samajwadi Party are expected to attend, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has announced that it will not attend the meeting, terming the Congress’ decision to tie up with the Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) as a “betrayal”.
Referring to Gandhi’s repeated attacks on the Communist Party of India (Maoist) during the election campaign, Bibi said he had withdrawn from Monday’s meeting and would send party MP John Prithas instead. This is in stark contrast to the late CPI(M) veteran and former party general secretary Sitaram Yechury, who played a pivotal role in all the previous four meetings of the opposition group. “I have previous engagements in Kerala,” he said.
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In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accessed by HT, Baby said: “Mr KC Venugopal has informed me of the All India Bloc parties meeting scheduled to be held on June 8, 2026. In this regard, I would like to cite the recent political development during the Assembly elections. There was an organized campaign by the Congress leadership during the Kerala Assembly elections that the CPI(M) and the BJP had reached an agreement. Moreover, it was alleged that the senior CPI(M) leader, Politburo member, and then Prime Minister, Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, had also struck an agreement with Modi, and the question was asked, ‘Why else was he not questioned or arrested by the ED?’
The letter comes amid an ongoing ED investigation against Vijayan.
The letter added that these were not reckless statements made in the midst of an election campaign, but were the focus of your political campaign (for Congress). “Every national leader – Rahul Gandhi, Shrimati Priyanka Gandhi, and you – has repeatedly raised such allegations,” Bibi wrote in the letter dated June 5.
“Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi, has repeatedly called for ED action against the then Chief Minister of Kerala. Can this be termed as an anti-BJP stance or is it a case of calling on the Modi government to take illegal punitive action against a fellow opposition leader? Unless these matters are clarified, the purpose of the India Caucus will be questioned. As President of the Indian National Congress, it is up to you and the Congress leadership to clear the air on such subversive moves,” the letter said.
Pointing out how the India group was formed as a broad platform to fight the BJP politically, Baby said that since its first meeting in June 2023, the CPI(M) has worked sincerely to see such a united platform emerge.
“Strangely, now, the CPI (Maoist) is accused of making a deal with the BJP, and this is a lie which we cannot take lightly. It strikes at the very foundation of the unity that was forged against the BJP. You must know that hundreds of our cadres were martyred in Kerala in the fight against the RSS-BJP. We would also like to draw your attention that during the last ten years of LDF rule in Kerala, there were no communal riots of any kind, on Unlike many other countries, which attests to our commitment to secularism and maintaining sectarian harmony.”
The CPI(M) allegations came more than a month after the Left-led Liberal Democratic Front lost power to the Congress-led United Democratic Front in Kerala. Notably, Bibi was an ardent supporter of the India Bloc after becoming the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India.
However, Bibi assured that the Communist Party of India will fully cooperate with the All India bloc in the fight against the Narendra Modi government.
