Cong chief Mallikarjun Kharge's claim about cuts in MGNREGA budget false: BJP

The BJP on Friday accused Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge of running a ”false propaganda” about MGNREGA budget cuts, and said the Narendra Modi government has repeatedly revised the budget estimates to meet the growing demand for work under the rural job scheme.

In a post on X on Friday, Kharge said the people in rural India are forced to wander from door-to-door in search of work under MGNREGA while the prime minister reduced its budget drastically and was ”hiding his failures” by criticising the Congress in poll-bound states.

The Congress president’s remarks came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Ashok Gehlot government in Rajasthan over recruitment exam paper leaks, corruption and law and order, saying it cared only for its “vote bank” and not the people of Rajasthan.

Hitting back at Kharge, BJP IT department head Amit Malviya wrote on X, ”His claim about budget cuts for MGNREGA in 2023-24 is false.” ”Congress has become an expert in presenting data before the people by wrapping them in lies. The false propaganda and lamentations about MGNREGA are also a demonstration of the same,” Malviya added.

The BJP leader said that MGNREGA is a demand-driven scheme and the Modi government has “repeatedly” revised its budget estimates to meet the growing demand for work under the scheme.

”For example, in FY 2021-22, what started as a BE (Budget Estimate) of Rs 73,000 crore was revised to Rs 98,000 crore. For FY 2020-21, what started as BE of Rs 61,500 crore was revised to Rs 1,11,500 crore,” Malviya said.

”It is a matter of shame that even after ruling for decades, Congress could not understand this,” he charged.

Targeting the government in a post on X, Kharge claimed that the economic crisis in rural India was so deep that the September demand for work under the MGNREGA increased by 30 per cent in four years.

Instead of doing anything about it, the prime minister is “cursing” the Congress in his speeches in poll-bound states to hide his massive failures, the Congress president charged.

Reacting sharply to Kharge’s remarks, Malviya charged, “It would have been better if the Congress president had understood this (MGNREGA) scheme before levelling allegations.” “Perhaps Kharge ji forgot that MGNREGA is a demand-based scheme, which means when there is more demand, more money is allocated,” he said. Malviya asserted that the Modi government is safeguarding the rights of the people who are poor unlike the Congress which took away their rights.