Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], January 28 (HBTV): Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President D K Shivakumar on Tuesday said the Congress has decided to name all 6,000 gram panchayat offices in Karnataka after Mahatma Gandhi.
Speaking after participating in the Raj Bhavan Chalo protest march against the discontinuation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, Shivakumar said Gandhi’s legacy would be permanently embedded once all gram panchayat offices carry his name.
‘KPCC Vice President Ugrappa and KPCC office-bearers have written to me about this. We have requested the Chief Minister regarding the proposal. By naming gram panchayat offices after Mahatma Gandhi, his legacy will be made permanent. Gandhiji’s conviction was that every village should have a school, a cooperative society and a panchayat,’ he said.
Shivakumar said the Congress was fighting for the employment rights of the poor and credited former Congress leaders for strengthening rural employment. ‘It was Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh who provided employment to rural people. In 2013, the World Bank lauded this project. Under the scheme, INR 6,000 crore was being spent across around 5,700 panchayats,’ he added.
He said panchayats earlier had the authority to decide the nature of works undertaken under the scheme, which supported farmers financially. ‘Panchayats used to decide the works to be taken up. The scheme helped farmers work on their farms and receive wages. The project was formulated by C P Joshi under the guidance of Sonia Gandhi. Indira Awas Yojana, cattle sheds and agricultural works were included under the scheme,’ he said.
Shivakumar also highlighted changes in funding patterns, stating that the Centre earlier bore most of the expenditure. ‘Earlier, the Centre funded 90 per cent of the scheme and the state paid the remainder. For works involving steel and cement, the state’s share was 25 per cent. The scheme employed 7,000 people in supervisory roles. Under the new arrangement, states are expected to pay 40 per cent of the cost,’ he said, adding that a special session would be held to discuss the issue.
Criticising the Bharatiya Janata Party, Shivakumar said the party had lost its moral right to associate itself with Mahatma Gandhi after removing his name from the employment scheme. ‘I heard that the BJP is protesting in front of Gandhi’s statue. They have lost the right to sit before the statue or hang Gandhiji’s photo in their offices. Nathuram Godse killed Gandhiji, and now the BJP and NDA are killing his legacy. You cannot erase his name from history,’ he said.
He further argued that scrapping the entire scheme due to irregularities was unjustified. ‘Kumaraswamy and BJP leaders can come for a debate on the scheme. I am ready. It has been 20 years since it was launched, during which the BJP ruled for 11 years. If irregularities occurred, what were they doing then? It is not right to scrap the entire scheme because of some corruption cases,’ he said.
Shivakumar added that even BJP-ruled states would find it difficult to implement the new framework as pending dues had not been cleared by the Centre. ‘NDA ally Chandrababu Naidu has himself raised concerns about the new scheme. The BJP government will face trouble if it does not withdraw it. Chandrababu Naidu has sent a warning signal,’ he said. (ANI)