Bengaluru, Jan 19 (PTI) AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge on Monday said that the Congress, which has launched a nationwide fight against the central government for repealing the UPA-era rural employment
law MGNREGA and replacing it with a new one, will also raise the issue during the upcoming parliament session.
He, however, did not wish to comment on the leadership tussle between CM Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar over the Chief Minister post in Karnataka, and the Congress high command’s intervention in this regard.
“During the upcoming parliament session too, we will raise the issue. The fight against this (repealing of MGNREGA) is underway everywhere in every district. In Karnataka, protests are also planned. The fight on this issue is a continuous programme,” Kharge told reporters here.
Stating that a programme has been organised against the repeal of MGNREGA at Nehru auditorium in Delhi on January 22 at 10 am, the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha said he along with top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be launching it, and several NGOs are participating in it.
The Modi government, by striking at the root of the MGNREGA programme, has caused a shock to the poor, he further said, adding that “MGNREGA ensured right to work, which the central government has today snatched away.” The Budget session of Parliament will be held from January 28 to April 2.
The Congress party, which is fighting against the central government for repealing the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), is demanding for its restoration by scrapping the new Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act.
Alleging that the central government has also caused loss of thousands of crores to the state governments by increasing the state’s share under the new act to 40 per cent from the ten per cent that was there earlier under the MGNREGA, Kharge said, “By removing MGNREGA they want the poor to become bonded labourers. They want them to live like slaves.” PTI KSU KH
