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At MGNREGA protest, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah says all gram panchayats will be named after Gandhi

Congress leaders Siddaramaiah, D K Shivakumar, and Randeep Singh Surjewala met Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot and submitted a memorandum demanding the restoration of the MGNREGA.

2 min readBengaluruJan 27, 2026 06:53 PM IST

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah made the announcement at a Congress protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru on Tuesday. (File Photo)

At a protest organised by Karnataka Congress on Tuesday against the repeal of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) by the Centre, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that all gram panchayats in the state would be named after Gandhi.

Speaking at the demonstration held at Freedom Park, Bengaluru, he said that the Congress would continue its protest against replacing the MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G. “In the upcoming budget session, an announcement to rename all gram panchayats after Gandhi will be made,” he said.

Although the Congress had announced a Raj Bhavan Chalo protest, Siddaramaiah said that it was called off because the Karnataka High Court had designated Freedom Park as the site for protests in the city.

A delegation of Congress leaders, including Siddaramaiah; Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar; and Randeep Singh Surjewala, general secretary in charge of Karnataka; met Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot following the protest and submitted a memorandum.

The memorandum described VB-G RAM G as a “broad daylight murder” of the MGNREGA and an assault on the rights of poor and needy beneficiaries of the previous employment scheme. The new law has unleashed an eight-pronged attack on the rights and welfare of labourers, it said.

The memorandum alleged that the Narendra Modi Government at the Centre had abdicated its responsibility to provide employment and snatched “the right of workers to demand work”. The new law centralises all powers within the Centre, serving a blow to decentralisation measures, it added.
Biometric authentication, geotagged attendance, and other features introduced under VB-G RAM G will exclude the poor, illiterate, and digitally unaware workers, the memorandum further alleged.

The Congress memorandum also demanded that the Central Government immediately restore the MGNREGA.

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