Hyderabad: Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President and MLC Mahesh Kumar Goud has demanded that the Central Government immediately withdraw the VB GRAMG scheme and reinstate the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Addressing an extended TPCC meeting at Gandhi Bhavan on Thursday, Mahesh Kumar Goud appealed to party leaders and cadres to intensify their protests against the GRAMG scheme in accordance with instructions from the All India Congress Committee (AICC). He asserted that the new Act reduces the rights of the poor and essentially "tramples" on their dignity.

As part of a state-wide agitation strategy, the TPCC chief announced that Gram Sabhas (village meetings) must be organised in every village between 20 and 30 January, following the Sankranthi festival. To raise public awareness, the party plans to distribute 5,000 pamphlets per constituency detailing the benefits of MGNREGA and the perceived flaws of its replacement. Mahesh Kumar Goud emphasised that these pamphlets must reach every street and every household to expose the Centre's agenda.

Supporting the demand, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy noted that the employment guarantee scheme has gained such global recognition that even people abroad have enquired about its success in India. He remarked that the transition to the G Ram G Act is an attempt to reduce the poor to a state of dependency and "beggary," stripping away the legal entitlements previously guaranteed under the Mahatma Gandhi-named act.