New Delhi, June 7 -- Days before the crucial Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc meeting, Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary MA Baby attacked leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, for alleging nexus between BJP and the Left and for demanding an ED probe against then chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan during the Kerala election campaign. Baby added that he will not be attending the meeting "due to prior engagements", and will send John Brittas. The meeting, scheduled to be held in the national capital on June 8, is being closely watched because it is the first meeting of the grouping since December 2023. Since then, the INDIA bloc has lost the Lok Sabha elections and won just two of the 14 state elections that followed. While the Trinamool Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and Samajwadi Party are expected to attend, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) has announced that it would not be attending the meeting, calling the Congress's decision to tie up with the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) a "betrayal". Referring to Gandhi's repeated attacks on the CPI(M) during the election campaign, Baby said he has opted out of Monday's meeting and will send party lawmaker John Brittas 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 four previous meetings of the Opposition group. "I have prior engagements in Kerala," he said. In a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, accessed by HT, Baby said, "I have been informed by Shri KC Venugopal about the meeting of the INDIA bloc parties to be held on June 8, 2026. In this connection, I would like to cite a recent political development during the assembly elections. There was a systematic campaign by the Congress leadership during the Kerala assembly elections that the CPI(M) and the BJP have struck a deal. Further, it was alleged that the CPI(M)'s senior leader, member of the Politburo, and then Chief Minister, Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, had also struck a deal with Modi. The question was posed, otherwise, 'why is it that he has not been interrogated or arrested by ED'?" The letter comes amid an ongoing ED probe against Vijayan. These were not stray remarks made in the heat of an election campaign, but were the centerpiece of your (the Congress's) political campaign, the letter added. "Every national leader -- Shri Rahul Gandhi, Shrimati Priyanka Gandhi, and yourself -- made such allegations repeatedly," Baby wrote in the letter dated June 5. "The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Shri Rahul Gandhi, has repeatedly called for ED action against the then Kerala Chief Minister. Can this be termed as an anti-BJP stance or is it a case of inviting the Modi government to take illegal punitive action against a fellow opposition leader? Unless these matters are clarified, the very purpose of the INDIA bloc would be in question. As the President of the Indian National Congress, it is up to you and the Congress leadership to clear the air regarding such disruptive moves," the letter said. Baby recalled how the INDIA group was constituted as a broad platform to politically fight the BJP, saying that from its first meeting in June 2023, the CPI(M) has worked sincerely to see such a united platform emerge. "Strangely, now, the CPI(M) is accused of having a deal with the BJP, This is a canard which we cannot take lightly. This strikes at the very basis of the unity forged against the BJP. You should know that hundreds of our cadres were martyred in Kerala in the fight against the RSS-BJP. We would also like to bring to your notice that during the last ten years of LDF rule in Kerala, there were no communal riots of any sort, unlike in many other states, which vouches for our commitment towards secularism and safeguarding communal harmony." The CPI(M)'s allegations came more than a month after the Left-led LDF lost power to the Congress-led UDF in Kerala. Notably, Baby had been an ardent supporter of INDIA bloc after becoming the CPI(M) general secretary. Baby, however, maintained that the CPI(M) will fully cooperate with the INDIA bloc in the fight against the Narendra Modi government....