Overview
- Opposition-ruled chief ministers largely stayed away from the two-day BRICS programme that ended Sunday in New Delhi while six chief ministers from BJP-ruled states attended the gala dinner at Bharat Mandapam.
- No single official reason was given for the absences, though unnamed state sources said Telangana’s Revanth Reddy and Himachal Pradesh’s Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had prior engagements and other leaders were abroad or declined invitations.
- Congress leaders publicly criticised the summit declaration for not directly addressing China’s actions in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh and for not naming perpetrators of the Pahalgam terror attack, framing the omissions as a security and sovereignty concern.
- Reporters and analysts place the no-shows in a wider pattern of opposition boycotts of Centre-hosted forums, citing earlier absences at the July 2024 NITI Aayog governing council meeting and the 2023 G20 dinner.
- The visible partisan split could shape domestic optics of India’s BRICS presidency by underscoring federal tensions, raising the risk that state–Centre cooperation on future national events and policy forums will be strained.