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According to sources close to the matter, the conversation was aimed at narrowing the differences between the two sides on the contentious issue. This marks the third occasion during the ongoing Monsoon Session on which Rijiju has personally taken up the matter with Gandhi.

The minister pressed the case that if the Opposition threw its weight behind an early reintroduction of the bill, it would pave the way for quicker rollout of women's reservation in legislatures. Rijiju is understood to have warned Gandhi that continued delay on the women's reservation front risked stirring resentment among women across the country.

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, had stumbled in the Lok Sabha during the Budget Session back in April, failing to secure passage.

For his part, Gandhi gave little away on the call. He stopped short of any commitment and asked for more time to consult with Congress's allies and the wider INDIA bloc before arriving at a position. He indicated that the government's outreach would be taken up in detail with allies, after which the Opposition would communicate a considered stand.

Congress, however, was quick to clarify that nothing had shifted on its end. MP K.C. Venugopal, speaking to reporters outside Parliament on Wednesday, dismissed suggestions that the party had softened its stance or promised a fresh response.

"Union Minister Kiren Rijiju wanted to know the Opposition's position. There are rumours that he spoke about delimitation and that we suggested we would come back with a response, but there is nothing like that," Venugopal said.

"Our stand is very clear. Whatever position we took during the last Parliament session, we continue to maintain the same stand. There has been no change," he added.

The roots of the standoff go back to April, when Congress MP Manish Tewari explained that the Opposition had mounted stiff resistance to the bill and ultimately defeated it in the Lok Sabha, driven by concerns that delimitation was being used as a smokescreen to redraw the country's political and demographic map under the banner of women's reservation. Tewari maintained then that the Opposition was not opposed to women's reservation in principle, and would support it so long as it was carried out within the existing framework of parliamentary seats.

Going into the Monsoon Session, the INDIA bloc itself appeared far from united on the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which ties the delimitation exercise to the rollout of women's reservation in the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies.