After months of lull, the Congress on Wednesday revved up the engine of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as it organised a meeting of the floor leaders of 17 parties in the Opposition group for improved coordination in Parliament.

Senior leaders indicated that the next meeting of the alliance might be held in the third week of December after the ongoing winter session is over.

The Trinamool Congress, the largest Opposition outfit in Parliament after the Congress, and Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) skipped the meeting, said people aware of developments. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was present in the meeting.

“A parliamentary strategy meeting of like-minded parties of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha floor leaders was held at 10, Rajaji Marg. We will take up the issues of the people in Parliament, in the remaining part of this session to make the government accountable. A date for meeting of INDIA parties will soon be fixed, in consultation with the leaders of all parties. Judega Bharat, Jeetega INDIA!” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge later posted on X.

The development came a day after the Congress’s plan to hurriedly call a meeting of INDIA leaders collapsed after three non-Congress chief ministers and a former chief minister refused to join, at a time when questions are being raised about the future of the grouping.

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Congress leader Nasir Hussain said a number of issues of Parliament and upcoming bills were discussed. “There was also a discussion about the government’s attitude. It was also decided that a meeting of INDIA leaders will take place soon and we will announce the date in a day or two,” Hussain said after the meeting.

Asked about the absence of the TMC and the Shiv Sena (UBT), Hussain said they had already informed that they would not be able to attend. “It happens daily that some parties are not able to participate due to some compulsion,” he said.

The meeting assumes importance as it comes days after the BJP defeated the Congress in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in what was dubbed as the virtual semifinals to the Lok Sabha polls next year.

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The Congress had stalled seat-sharing talks in anticipation of a good performance in the assembly elections that could have put it at an advantage in any negotiations, and had refused to have any informal arrangements in the three states. That strategy appeared to have backfired as the Congress lost its governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, and failed to dislodge the BJP in Madhya Pradesh.

Though the party won Telangana, its dismal head-to-head record against the BJP cast a long shadow on the party’s ability to put up a credible fight against the BJP in the Hindi belt, and effectively relegated it to southern India.

According to a leader present in the meeting, the participants discussed the upcoming legislation with focus on the Jammu and Kashmir bills and the three criminal codes that are set to replace the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act. The Jammu & Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 and The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2023 were passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

“It was discussed that the two bills have been brought because the BJP has its own agenda in Kashmir but it is not good for the country. We also decided that INDIA unity should be strengthened,” said the leader quoted above.

In the meeting, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Janata Dal(United) demanded that seat-sharing talks should be concluded at the earliest.

Among Congress leaders present at Kharge’s residence were its leader in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, and deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari, in addition to general secretaries K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh.

The Opposition leaders present at the meeting included Mahua Majhi of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Vaiko of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam,N K Premchandran of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, Binoy Viswam of the Communist Party of India, Lalan Singh of the Janata Dal (United), Ram Gopal Yadav, Javed Ali Khan and ST Hasan of the Samajwadi Party, and Jayant Chaudhary of the Rashtriya Lok Dal.

In addition, Vandana Chavan of the Nationalist Congress Party, Raghav Chadha of the AAP, Tiruchi Siva and TR Baalu of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Congress leaders Gaurav Gogoi, Naseer Hussain and Rajani Patil were also present at the meeting that started around 7pm and continued for an hour.

Elamaram Kareem of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Faiyaz Ahmad of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jose K Mani of the Kerala Congress (M), Hasnain Masoodi of the National Conference and Mohd Basheer of the Indian Union Muslim League also attended the meeting.