Revanth: BJP Govt Will Face Public Backlash on G Ram G
Congress to launch nationwide “Save MGNREGA” agitation from Jan. 5
HYDERABAD: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Saturday said the Congress would intensify agitations in the state from January 5 against the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), enacted by the Congress-led UPA government in 2005. He said MGNREGA represented a constitutional Right to Work rather than a welfare scheme, warning that the BJP-led government at the Centre would face public backlash for replacing it with the VB-G RAM G scheme.
Revanth Reddy attended the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting held at the All India Congress Committee (AICC) headquarters in Delhi. The meeting, chaired by AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, was attended by senior leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, along with Chief Ministers of three Congress-ruled states and other top functionaries. Party sources said deliberations focused extensively on the Centre’s decision to scrap MGNREGA and its wider political and social implications.
Revanth said the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) had already announced agitation programmes in villages on Sunday against the repeal, and these would be intensified further from January 5.
Speaking during the meeting, he said there was widespread anger across the country over the repeal of the landmark legislation. He stressed that MGNREGA was designed to address hunger, ensure livelihood security for rural households and create durable assets in villages, and its dilution would adversely affect crores of poor families. “People are angry over the repeal of MGNREGA, and the Modi government will have to face the consequences,” Revanth said.
After the meeting, Revanth announced on X that the Congress had decided to launch a nationwide “Save MGNREGA Scheme” movement from January 5. He said the decision was unanimously taken by the CWC, the party’s highest decision-making body, and would involve large-scale agitations and protests across the country to defend the scheme launched in Mahatma Gandhi’s name.
The CWC strongly condemned the Centre for scrapping MGNREGA, describing the move as an assault on the rights of the rural poor. The committee resolved that the employment guarantee programme must be protected in its original spirit and implemented effectively, and tasked party units across states with mobilising people for the campaign.
Revanth Reddy , along with Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, senior leader Harish Rawat, former Union minister Salman Khurshid, and MPs Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Rajeev Shukla, spoke during the deliberations.
Party sources said Revanth Reddy also raised issues related to organisational preparedness for Assembly elections due in five states in 2026, including West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Discussions included strategies to counter alleged vote theft during special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and addressing what the party described as pressing political and economic issues.