Sharmila slams BJP for killing MGNREGA, betraying poor

Sullurpeta (Tirupati district): Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief YS Sharmila Reddy strongly criticised the BJP-led Central government, accusing it of destroying Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), known locally as Upadi Hami Pathakam. She said this betrays poor and rural people.

Speaking at a village meeting (Racha Banda) in Kotapoluru, Sullurpeta assembly area on Saturday, Sharmila said the BJP weakened the scheme and removed Gandhi's name from it. "Gandhi is the Father of the Nation. Removing his name insults his ideals and the country," she added. She called the new Gram G Act illegal and anti-poor. It favors big contractors, she claimed. "Upadi Hami Pathakam gave power to villages. Gram G Act takes money from the poor and gives it to contractors," she said. Pointing that ‘Under MGNREGA, village meetings decided local works. Now, decisions come from Delhi,’ she added that people in Delhi don't know our village needs. Sharmila mocked the promise of 125 days of work as a lie. The government gave only 52 days on average before. In Andhra Pradesh, the new law adds a Rs 5,000 crore burden. The State already has Rs 10 lakh crore debt and blamed Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu for supporting it.

She noted 18 lakh job cards were deleted last year, and 50 lakh over five years. During YSR's time, there were 1.10 crore cards. The new law may divert Rs 80,000 crore to BJP-linked contractors and force workers to do 12-hour days, she alleged. Congress will protest until MGNREGA is restored and Gram G Act is scrapped, Sharmila declared.