Upcoming assembly polls to new rural employment law: Agenda for CWC meet on December 27

File photo of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge with Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, party leader Rahul Gandhi and others during the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting.

As the winter session of Parliament draws to a close, the Congress party is gearing up for the upcoming Congress Working Committee (CWC) meet on December 27.

Multiple reports suggest that the party is likely to discuss the emerging political situation in the country, including finalising its strategy to fight the new rural job guarantee law replacing MGNREGA. The meeting is also likely to focus on elections to five states and union territories, besides analysing what went wrong in Bihar.

With upcoming elections in West Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry scheduled for April-May, the senior leaders are also likely to firm up the strategy for the Assembly polls. Congress is upbeat in Kerala after the local body elections while it is in alliance with DMK in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.

Speaking about the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said this is not merely a case of renaming MGNREGA, but it is the "systematic murder of the world's largest employment scheme".

Kharge alleged that the government is taking away the right to work from people and asserted that "there will be a nationwide movement against it".

The G RAM G Bill to replace the UPA-era MGNREGA was passed in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. The Opposition has been strongly opposing the bill, accusing the government of insulting Mahatma Gandhi and diluting the provisions of MGNREGA.

According to the bill, it will provide a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work. Within six months from the date of commencement of the VB-G RAM G Act, states will have to make a scheme consistent with the provisions of the new law.