Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday announced that the Congress-led Karnataka government will soon convene a special session of the Legislature to pass a resolution demanding the restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which the Union government has proposed to replace with the new VB G RAM G legislation.
Addressing senior Congress leaders and ministers in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said MGNREGA was introduced to provide employment to rural poor, Dalits, women and farmers, and accused the Centre of taking away their right to work. He alleged that the move was part of a larger attempt to erase Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and termed it a “conspiracy” that had caused injustice to nearly 28 crore Dalits. “By removing Gandhi’s name and diluting the scheme, the Centre has made the right to employment meaningless,” he said.
Following the Chief Minister’s remarks, Deputy Chief Minister D. K. Shivakumar said the special session would be held for two days, with dates to be finalised soon. He said the state government would strongly oppose the new law, which he described as harmful to rural labourers and detrimental to federal principles.
Shivakumar announced a statewide protest plan, including a five-kilometre padyatra in every taluk from January 26 to February 2, along with district-level press conferences and panchayat-level awareness campaigns. He said the removal of MGNREGA could result in an employment loss of nearly ₹6,000 crore and criticised the new legislation for centralising powers that earlier rested with panchayats.
He added that the move undermines the 73rd and 74th Constitutional amendments on local self-governance and imposes an unmanageable 40 per cent cost burden on states. The Deputy Chief Minister said Karnataka would continue to press the Union government to withdraw the new law and fully reinstate MGNREGA.
