Senior Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, focused on opposing the newly enacted VB-G RAM G Act, which has replaced the UPA-era MGNREGA.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, December 27, 2025: The Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party’s highest decision-making body, met on Saturday for the first time after the Congress’s poor performance in the recent Bihar Assembly elections, with discussions centring on electoral strategy and a nationwide campaign against the newly enacted Viksit Bharat—Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, 2025.
The meeting was attended by senior leaders, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and other members of the Gandhi family, along with leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and chief ministers from Congress-ruled states, including Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh.
Party leaders reviewed the Bihar results, where the Congress secured only a handful of seats despite contesting over 60 constituencies, marking one of its weakest performances in the state amid a landslide victory for the BJP-led NDA. According to sources, the CWC discussed the need to recalibrate the party’s organisational and electoral strategy ahead of upcoming state and national polls.
A major portion of the meeting focused on opposing the VB-G RAM G Act, which has replaced the UPA-era Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). The new law was introduced in Parliament on December 16, passed amid opposition protests on December 18, and received presidential assent on December 21.
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While the government has described the legislation as a reform aimed at modernising rural employment, improving asset creation and reducing corruption, the Congress accused the BJP of diluting a rights-based welfare scheme. Party leaders argued that the new Act converts a legal guarantee of work into a budget-driven programme, shifts a greater financial burden to states, and centralises planning at the cost of gram panchayats.
STORY | Top Cong leaders attend CWC meet, discuss further action against govt on G RAM G law
Top Congress leaders on Saturday are attending a crucial meeting of the working committee, the party’s highest decision-making body. They are deliberating on the current political… pic.twitter.com/q1jUdgoGw3
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 27, 2025
Congress leaders also criticised the removal of Mahatma Gandhi’s name from the scheme, calling it symbolic of the BJP’s ideological opposition to Gandhi and alleging that the changes would disproportionately affect rural and marginalised communities.
The CWC approved a nationwide agitational programme against the law, including village-level campaigns, coordination with INDIA bloc allies, possible legal challenges, and mobilisation around party events such as Congress Foundation Day on December 28. Some state units are also exploring the option of approaching the Supreme Court.
Political observers said the meeting highlighted the VB-G RAM G Act as a key point of confrontation between the BJP and the Congress, particularly as both sides seek to shape the narrative on rural welfare ahead of the 2026 election cycle.
