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Earlier, the Centre passed the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB—G RAM G) Bill, 2025, in a sweeping overhaul of India’s rural employment scheme.
Senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, at the Congress Working Committee meeting. (Siddaramaiah)
Congress leaders unanimously condemned the Central government’s ‘anti-national’ move to replace the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) during the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held in New Delhi on Saturday.
During the recent Parliament Winter Session, the Centre passed the Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB—G RAM G) Bill, 2025, in a sweeping overhaul of India’s rural employment scheme by replacing MGNREGA 2005. The opposition vociferously protested against the bill, tearing copies of the VB-G RAM G Bill and storming the well of the House.
At the heart of the new bill is an increase in the statutory guarantee of wage employment from 100 to 125 days per rural household. However, this expansion comes with structural changes that the opposition describes as a dilution of the “right to work”, with states bearing some of the costs.
On Saturday, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge chaired the CWC meeting of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) Headquarters at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi. Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and other senior party leaders are present in the meeting, which is underway.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who was present at the meeting, said, “At today’s Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Indira Bhavan, New Delhi, we unanimously condemned the Union Government’s anti-federal and anti-national move to weaken the very spirit of the Employment Guarantee Programme by changing the name and structure of MGNREGA.”
“The meeting will also focus on preparations for upcoming Assembly elections, strategies to stop vote theft, and addressing the major challenges facing the country,” he added.
At today’s Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Indira Bhavan, New Delhi, we unanimously condemned the Union Government’s anti-federal and anti-national move to weaken the very spirit of the Employment Guarantee Programme by changing the name and structure of MGNREGA.The… pic.twitter.com/9U5RFvESpr
— Siddaramaiah (@siddaramaiah) December 27, 2025
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and Telangana CM Revanth Reddy were also invited to the CWC meeting, as was Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, despite his on-and-off relationship with the party marked by occasional praise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesperson CR Kesavan questioned whether the party will hold Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi “accountable” for his failure in the Bihar Assembly election and “disastrous vote chori campaign.”
“The INC [Insecure Nehru Congress] has called for its first CWC [Congress Whitewash Committee] meeting after the party was routed and rejected by the people in the Bihar Elections. Will the CWC dare to pin the onus and responsibility on Rahul Gandhi for Congress’s dismal Bihar drubbing and his disastrous vote chori campaign or will it as usual conveniently cover-up and whitewash Rahul Gandhi’s colossal failures?” he said on X.
(with inputs from ANI)
December 27, 2025, 14:42 IST
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