Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy reportedly said on Saturday that the recent changes to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) scheme would impose financial burden on the states.

The Chief Minister alleged that Centre was trying to evade its responsibility towards the flagship social security scheme by pushing the financial burden onto states.

He called for a sustained political fight against the BJP-led NDA government over the renaming and rejig of the rural job scheme.

Speaking at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting, he recalled MGNREGA scheme’s affinity with the Telugu people and said that the popular scheme had a special place in the hearts of the people of Telugus, as it was launched in the undivided Andhra Pradesh by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He formally rolled out the scheme at Bandlapalli village in Anantapur district in 2006. The scheme was initially launched as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). The Modi government recently renamed MGNREGA as VB G RAM G (Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin)), brought in changes and enacted a law to that effect.

Revanth noted that the scheme symbolised the dignity of labour and provided employment assurance to the poorest sections in rural India.

“Congress has decided to launch a nationwide agitation to save the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme from January 5,” the CM tweeted on his X handle later. The CWC, which met on Saturday in Delhi under the leadership of AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, passed a resolution to this effect, he added. Soon after the CWC meeting, the Chief Minister returned to Hyderabad on Saturday night.