Congress Working Committee Meets to Strategize 2026 Assembly Polls, MNREGA Repeal

The Congress Working Committee, the party's supreme decision-making forum, assembled for an extended and pivotal session on Saturday, bringing together the entire senior leadership cadre to meticulously evaluate the prevailing political climate, craft detailed electoral blueprints for the forthcoming assembly contests across several states in 2026, and formulate a coordinated and aggressive counter-strategy against the central government's controversial decision to supplant the iconic UPA-introduced Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act with a newly legislated framework.

Distinguished participants in the high-stakes deliberations included Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, alongside chief ministers presiding over Congress-administered states such as Karnataka, Telangana, and Himachal Pradesh, complemented by the presidents of various Pradesh Congress Committees, all converging to address pressing organizational and policy imperatives.

A primary focus of the gathering revolves around the meticulous preparation of the party's electoral roadmap for the crucial assembly elections slated for the coming year in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry, with leaders engaging in in-depth discussions aimed at fortifying grassroots mobilization, alliance configurations, and campaign narratives to maximize congressional prospects in these diverse and strategically significant electoral battlegrounds.

Also Read: Congress Pays Tribute to Manmohan Singh on First Death Anniversary

At the forefront of the agenda stands the urgent task of crystallizing a multifaceted action plan to vigorously challenge and highlight perceived shortcomings in the recently promulgated Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act, which has formally repealed the longstanding Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005 subsequent to its approval during the winter session of Parliament and the subsequent granting of presidential assent by Droupadi Murmu.

The Congress, in unison with allied opposition parties, has mounted staunch criticism against the new legislation, decrying the deliberate excision of Mahatma Gandhi's name from the rural employment assurance program as a profound disrespect to his enduring legacy, while raising substantive apprehensions regarding the revised funding modality that imposes a 60:40 cost-sharing arrangement between the Centre and states, alongside the extension of guaranteed unskilled manual wage employment to 125 days per financial year for eligible rural households.

Also Read: Rahul Gandhi Holds Off on Karnataka Leadership Change After Cautionary Inputs