‘VB G Ram G Act takes away constitutional rights, Centre wants to decide everything’: CM Siddaramaiah at ‘Lok Bhavan chalo’ protest

BENGALURU: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday said the Congress’ protest was aimed at opposing the repeal of MGNREGA through the VB G Ram G Bill, asserting that the move curtails constitutional rights and centralises authority with the Union government.

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) on Tuesday organised a state-level protest in Bengaluru against the Centre’s VB G Ram G Act. CM Siddaramaiah and Deputy CM DK Shivakumar led the Congress delegation to the Lok Bhavan in buses for the ‘Lok Bhavan chalo’ protest.

Siddaramaiah said that the party demanded that the legislation be repealed and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) be restored. Addressing reporters at Raj Bhavan, Siddaramaiah said the protest drew thousands of participants across the state.

He said the party complied with a court order by not holding a rally and instead reached Raj Bhavan in buses to register its opposition. “Today, on behalf of the KPCC, we organised a state-level protest. Thousands of people participated in this protest. Since there is a court order, we did not hold a protest rally, so we came to Raj Bhavan in two buses,” the Chief Minister said.

#WATCH | Bengaluru, Karnataka: On Congress’ Lok bhavan chalo’ protest, Congress MP Randeep Singh Surjewala says, “The Union BJP government has murdered MGNREGA. All over the country, the Indian National Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, is championing the… pic.twitter.com/fErRmvBEh2

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2026

Siddaramaiah said the protest was aimed at opposing the repeal of MGNREGA through the VB G Ram G Bill, asserting that the move curtails constitutional rights and centralises authority with the Union government. “The reason is that MGNREGA was repealed with the VB G Ram G Bill. They are taking away the rights given by the Constitution. Now, with this VB G Ram G, the central government will decide everything,” he said.

The Chief Minister announced that the Congress would intensify its agitation across Karnataka in the coming days. “We will do our protest in the whole state. They should repeal this VB G Ram G and bring back MGNREGA. Until then, we will continue our fight,” he said. He added that the party would undertake padayatras in several parts of the state to mobilise public support. “We will do a padayatra in many places in the state,” he said.

Further, Deputy CM DK Shivakumar said that the party have decided that all gram panchayats in Karnataka will be named after Mahatma Gandhi.

#WATCH | Bengaluru: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar lead the Congress delegation to the Lok Bhavan in buses for ‘Lok Bhavan chalo’ protest against the VB G RAM G bill.

Karnataka Deputy CM DK Shivakumar says, “We have decided that all gram… pic.twitter.com/uHlyEIIPsf

— ANI (@ANI) January 27, 2026

“We have decided that all gram panchayats in Karnataka will be named after Mahatma Gandhi. We are meeting with the governor and requesting that he tell the central government that this should be ruled back and that the MGNREGA should be reinstated. MGNREGA should be continued. They are killing all gram panchayats,” Shivakumar said.

The protest comes amid growing political opposition to the VB-G RAM G Act, passed in the Winter Session of Parliament in 2025 and replacing the 100-day employment guarantee with a 125-day guarantee. However, the Opposition has criticised the legislation for removing Mahatma Gandhi’s name and for removing the 60:40 share of funds between the Centre and states.

Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao slammed the central government for implementing the new Act, demanding that the MGNREGA scheme be brought back and the new Bill be “scrapped.”

Addressing the protest, Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao said, “This is a very important issue and the way the central government is behaving is extremely concerning. A very important law which gave the right to work to people under the MGNREGA has been diluted. They want to finish this scheme. They have removed the powers of the Gram Panchayat. Our main issue is to bring back the MGNREGA scheme and scrap this VB G RAM G.” (ANI)