INDIA bloc's future not so bright, BJP formidably organised, says Chidambaram

Chidambaram was speaking at the launch of Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav’s book ‘Contesting Democratic Deficit’.

Calling the BJP “formidably organised" in every department, senior Congress leader P Chidambaram said he was not sure if the INDIA bloc was still intact.

He was speaking at the launch of Salman Khurshid and Mritunjay Singh Yadav’s book ‘Contesting Democratic Deficit’.

“The future (of the INDIA bloc) is not so bright, as Mritunjay Singh Yadav said. He seems to feel that the alliance is still intact, but I am not sure," Chidambaram said at the event. “It is only Salman (Khurshid) who can answer, because he was a part of the negotiating team for the INDIA bloc.”

Chidambaram said he would be “very happy” if the alliance was totally intact “but it shows at the seams that it is"frayed ".

Chidambaram also said he hoped that the alliance can “still be put together, there’s still time".

The former Finance Minister also warned that the INDIA bloc was fighting against a “formidable machinery", which must be fought on all fronts.

"In my experience and my reading of history, there has been no political party so formidably organised as the BJP. It's not just another political party. It's a machine behind a machine and the two machines control all the machinery in India. From the Election Commission to the lowest police station in the country, they (BJP) are able to control and sometimes capture these institutions. It is a formidable machinery, as much as can be allowed in a democracy," Chidambaram said.

His remarks at the book launch came as Khurshid and Yadav, in their book, reflect on the Congress’s revival efforts ahead of last year’s Lok Sabha elections. The book covers events from the emotionally-charged "Bharat Jodo Yatra" to the "historic" formation of the INDIA bloc comprising diverse political forces.

Chidambaram said that no one can undermine elections in India, which "still remains an electoral democracy".

"You can interfere with elections in India. You can tinker with them. But you can't get away with elections. You can't have elections where the ruling party gets away with 98 per cent of the votes... That is not possible in India," Chidambaram said.

According to him, the 2029 elections are critical and “must return us to a full-fledged democracy”.

After Chidambaram’s remark, BJP’s national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari took a jibe at the Congress, saying Rahul Gandhi’s close aides know his party has no future.

“Opposition will not be intact in future, BJP is a formidable organization" Even Rahul Gandhi’s close aides know Congress has no future," Bhandari wrote in an X post.