‘We did an alliance by ceding our place’: Congress’ Salman Khurshid on INDIA bloc

NEW DELHI: Congress leader Salman Khurshid emphasized that the INDIA bloc was formed in response to the party’s recognition of the need for a united alliance. He even said that Congress “ceded” its place for the formation of alliances.

He stressed that all stakeholders need to work on making the alliance “good”.

“INDIA alliance was formed as we accepted the fact that we need an alliance in this fight. We did an alliance even by ceding our place. Alliance is needed, but it should be a good one, and we need to work on how it is possible,” Salman Khurshid said on Friday.

This came after senior Congress leader P. Chidambaram on Thursday expressed doubts about the future of the INDIA bloc, saying that it is frayed at the seams. However, he added that the bloc could still be saved with time.

#WATCH | Delhi | Congress leader Salman Khurshid says, “INDIA allaince was formed as we accepted the fact that we need an alliance in this fight. We did an alliance even by ceding our place… Alliance is needed, but it should be a good one, and we need to work on how it is… pic.twitter.com/v2FG5zU8C6

— ANI (@ANI) May 15, 2025

“The future is not so bright as Mritunjay Singh Yadav said. He seemed to feel that the India alliance is still intact. I’m not sure. It’s only Salman can answer, because he was part of the negotiating team for the India alliance. If the India alliance is intact, I’m very, very happy. But it shows, it’s at the seams, it’s frayed. It can be put together, there’s still time,” Chidambaram said.

Chidambaram was speaking at the book launch of Contesting Democratic Deficit: An Inside Story of the 2024 Elections by Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav at the India International Centre in the national capital.

Chidambaram even described the BJP as not another political party but an exceptionally well-organised political force and stressed that it must be challenged on multiple fronts to challenge its dominance.

“In my experience and reading of history, there has been no political party as formidably organised as the BJP. In every department, it’s formidable. It’s not another political party. It’s a machine behind which it’s a machine, and the two machines control all the machinery of India, from the Election Commission of India to the lowest police station in India; they are able to control or sometimes capture these institutions. This is a formidable missionary you’re fighting. It’s not another political party. This formidable missionary must be fought on all fronts,” he said.

Chidambaram stressed the importance of the 2029 elections, saying that they could either strengthen the BJP’s political machinery or restore full-fledged democracy.

“As the author has described from a ringside view, the difficulty of fighting this formidable missionary. That’s the message I get from the book. So the next elections, we don’t know where it will go. 2029 elections may make a decisive turn to strengthen this formidable missionary and then we are beyond repair or the 2029 elections must return us to a full-fledged democracy. The 2029 elections are critical,” he said. (ANI)