Sinjini Mitra
On 13th December 2025, Saturday, the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, criticised the Congress for questioning the Centre’s decision to rename the MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), emphasising that the Modi government has ushered in positive changes that will significantly boost rural development and employment.
Speaking to all the reporters on the sidelines of a programme in Nagpur, Mr Fadnavis dismissed the Opposition’s criticism over the renaming of the flagship rural employment scheme to ‘Poojya Bapu Grameen Rozgar Yojna’, saying that the Congress targets the government irrespective of whether people benefit from its policies.
The chief minister stated that the Congress criticises when the work is carried out under MGNREGA, but it was also attacked even when no work was done. The chief minister playfully asked everyone not to pay much attention to it.
The remarks came a day after the Union Cabinet approved the Bill to rename the scheme and increase the guaranteed number of workdays from the existing 100 days to 125 days. Mr Fadnavis said the move would provide a major boost to rural employment generation and overall development in villages across the country.
Responding to the Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi’s reported statement that renaming the scheme would lead to unnecessary expenditure, Mr Fadnavis reasserted that the Centre’s reforms were aimed at strengthening the rural livelihoods.
Addressing concerns raised by the Opposition over not being allowed to protest on the steps of the Vidhan Bhavan during the ongoing winter session of the Maharashtra legislature, Mr Fadnavis denied any strategy to curb dissent.
Welcoming the passage of several Bills during the session, the Chief Minister stressed the importance of debate in a democracy. “Protesting on the steps and not participating in discussions has no place in democracy. We should be happy when discussions are held as much as possible,” he said.
Mr Fadnavis confidently announced the fact that the current ruling Mahayuti alliance would win the upcoming municipal corporation elections across Maharashtra. He said the next mayor of Mumbai would be from the ruling party in the Kalyan-Dombivli region. The Chief Minister downplayed the whole situation, remarking that he would discuss this later on.