After CWC Meet, Congress To Roll Out Nationwide ‘Save MGNREGA’ Campaign From January 5

CM Siddaramaiah announced that a nationwide “Save Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)” campaign will be launched from January 5.

After the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday announced that a nationwide “Save Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)” campaign will be launched from January 5.

The meeting was attended by the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Congress National President Mallikarjun Kharge, and several top leaders.

CM added that this decision comes after a centre's move to replace the MGNREGA with "VB-G RAM G" scheme.

Speaking to media representatives at Karnataka Bhavan in New Delhi, the Chief Minister expressed concern over the central government's decision and emphasised the importance of preserving the original scheme named after Mahatma Gandhi.

Meanwhile, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge also announced that the party will launch a nationwide 'Save MNREGA' campaign from January 5.

While speaking to ANI, Kharge said that party leaders took an oath during the meeting to protect MNREGA and oppose any attempt to weaken or alter the scheme.

"In the meeting, we took an oath. We decided to launch a massive movement across the country, making the MNREGA scheme the central point. Indian National Congress party, taking a leading role, will launch the MNREGA Save Campaign from January 5th," Kharge said, ANI reported.

While emphasising the importance of the scheme, the Congress chief said MNREGA is not merely a welfare programme but a constitutional right.

"We will protect the MNREGA at all costs. MNREGA is not just a scheme but a right to work guaranteed by the Constitution of India. We also pledge to democratically oppose every conspiracy to remove Gandhiji's name from MNREGA," he added.

On December 21, President Droupadi Murmu gave assent to the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025, marking a significant milestone in the transformation of rural employment policy, as per a release by the President's Secretariat.