The meeting of INDIA bloc held on Monday after nearly two years focused on setting aside mutual bitterness, aligning with civil society movements, and acknowledging the Congress as the opposition alliance's anchor provided the party shows a "large heart".

Sources said the most emphatic assertion for avoiding criticism of each other came from Trinamool Congress supremo and former Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee - a marked departure from her previous efforts to carve out a space for herself independent of the Congress.

Even after the 2024 Lok Sabha poll results, Banerjee had, at various points, questioned the Congress's ability to lead the opposition alliance. The TMC earlier never missed any opportunity to underline its status as a non-electoral ally of the Congress, unlike the DMK.

Ever since suffering a poll drubbing in Bengal, the TMC chief, grappling with a virtual split in the party, has adopted a reconciliatory tone and become the biggest proponent of the need for an active opposition alliance. At Monday's meeting, she said the INDIA allies should "try not to criticise each other", a leader who attended the meeting quoted her as saying.

Sources said that before the meeting formally began, Banerjee had a nearly 10-minute-long conversation with Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi. A picture of the two leaders embracing each other was also posted by the Congress on its social media platforms.

In his intervention, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also argued that mutual trust and solidarity among opposition parties would be essential if they were to successfully challenge the ruling establishment.

"It is clear that the Congress and INDIA are on one side and on the other side is the BJP-RSS," an opposition leader quoted Rahul Gandhi as having said in the meeting.

Mamata also called for greater engagement with civil society movements and indicated her willingness to contribute to strengthening the alliance's organisational structure if required.

Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah is learnt to have endorsed the youth-led political movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) more directly.

"Let's associate with them, they must be doing something right," Abdullah said, according to sources. He also categorically asserted that the constituents of the bloc need to acknowledge that the Congress is the "glue" that holds the alliance together.

He underlined that the opposition had already achieved something significant by preventing the BJP from getting majority on its own in the 2024 general elections and urged them to build on that achievement rather than dwell on recent setbacks.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav, seated next to Rahul Gandhi, also stressed on the need to reduce friction within the alliance.

More importantly, Yadav had a message for the Congress ahead of the seat-sharing talks for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls next year. He said the principal opposition party should "show a large heart" and back the strongest anti-BJP force in individual states, it is learnt.

Yadav was among the leaders who criticised the manner in which the Congress broke its ties with the DMK, which stayed away from the meeting. 3RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav was also sharply critical of the Congress's Bihar unit leadership, sources added.

Akhilesh Yadav, sources said, echoed the CPIM's John Brittas in flaying the Congress', particularly Rahul Gandhi's, "personal attacks" on former Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the recently held assembly polls.

Nevertheless, what stood out, according to leaders involved in holding the meeting, was the absence of any tussle over leadership, something that defined previous huddles of the alliance that was formed in June 2023 in Patna with JDU chief and then Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar playing the host.

Kumar had walked out of the INDIA bloc ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, dealing a major blow to the unity project of the opposition to effectively take on the BJP. It was Mamata Banerjee and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal who torpedoed Kumar's bid to lead the alliance as its convenor, JDU leader Sanjay Jha claimed recently.

In Monday's meeting, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge opened the discussion by outlining the current political situation and stressing the need for opposition parties to work together.

He also raised concerns over alleged electoral irregularities and voter disenfranchisement, themes that would recur through the meeting.

Referring to Bengal, Akhilesh Yadav argued that those who believed Mamata Banerjee had simply been defeated were mistaken, suggesting that institutional factors had played a role.

"Mamata Banerjee said she was 90 per cent sure that she was robbed of the mandate. Akhilesh Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav said they were 40 per cent convinced. Rahul Gandhi said he was 100 per cent sure that the recent elections were stolen," an MP who attended the nearly three-hour-long meeting said.

Tejashwi Yadav argued that the opposition needed to look beyond immediate electoral contests and begin preparing systematically for the 2029 Lok Sabha elections. The alliance, he said, should remain active on the ground and build sustained campaigns against the BJP.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who joined the meeting virtually like Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, proposed more frequent meetings among alliance partners and argued that the key lesson from recent elections was the need for much tighter coordination.

NCP(SP) leader Supriya Sule pointed to Maharashtra as an example of opposition cooperation working effectively among the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar's party, arguing that the experience offered lessons for the broader alliance.

CPI(ML) Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya argued that the INDIA bloc had so far functioned primarily as an idea and now needed to evolve into a recognisable political identity.