Bengaluru

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Friday challenged the BJP leaders for an open debate on the merits of MGNREGA against the central government’s VB-G RAM G rural employment scheme.

The challenge follows Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s announcement that a two-day legislative session will be called to pressure the union government to re-implement the

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which was introduced in 2005 by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre. Speaking to reporters here, he noted that the state government has already announced that it would hold a two-day session in the assembly to extensively discuss the Centre’s decision to repeal MGNREGA.