Bhopal, Jan 12 (IANS) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, on Monday, accused the Congress of running a “fake campaign” against the newly implemented Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Aajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act that replaced the decades-old Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Defending the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Centre’s decision for repealing the UPA’s MGNREGA into the ‘VB-G RAM G Act’, which is being debated across the country, Chief Minister Yadav said that the Congress added Mahatma Gandhi’s name into the scheme with the only purpose of political gain.

“Congress is trying to mislead the people through spreading lies about the VB-G RAM G Act implemented after it was passed from the Parliament. They (Congress) are doing the same thing they have been doing for the last several years. The Congress used Mahatma Gandhi’s name for its political gain,” he added.

The Chief Minister made these remarks while addressing a workshop on the VB-G RAM G Act organised at the State BJP headquarters in Bhopal, which was attended by district party workers on Monday.

State BJP Chief Hemant Khandelwal and the party’s State General Secretary (Organisation) Hitanand Sharma and several other senior party leaders also addressed the workshop later in the day.

During his speech, Chief Minister Yadav targeted Congress’ top brass and the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi, accusing him of questioning the Ram temple in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya.

The Chief Minister called the Lok Sabha LoP a ‘fake Gandhi’.

“When the Ram temple dispute was in the Supreme Court, the Congress leaders were questioning the existence of Lord Ram. He (Rahul Gandhi) is presenting himself as a Gandhi, but he is a fake Gandhi, who opposes the Ram temple,” CM Yadav said.

He dismissed the Congress’ allegation as “baseless” and said that the VB-G RAM G scheme will render more benefits to the labourers as compared to the now-repealed MGNREGA since the number of workdays has been enhanced from 100 to 125, and the scheme has been linked with other schemes on water conservation, infrastructure, climate change, and livelihood.

“The Gram Panchayats across the country will be deciding up to 50 per cent work under the VB-RAM-G Act. It has been linked to mega programmes like the PM Gati Shakti so that people in villages know about the development activities taking place in their area,” he added.

–IANS

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