Congress MP Amrinder Singh Raja. File
| Photo Credit: ANI
Slamming the AAP Government in Punjab for notifying the VB-G RAM G scheme, the Congress on Saturday (June 27, 2026) asked under what “deal” with the BJP the step has been taken and wondered if it was linked to the video row related to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring reminded the CM Mann government that it had convened a special session of the Punjab Assembly on December 30, 2025, which had passed a unanimous resolution rejecting the Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin), or VB-G RAM G Act.
“What is the deal?” he said and stressed that the timing of implementing the scheme, which was notified on Friday (June 26) by the Punjab Government, is as important as it is surprising.
Whether the sudden implementation of the scheme had something to do with the ongoing controversy related to the Chief Minister, he asked, referring to the video row.
“Having been cornered both within and outside his party, is the Chief Minister trying to buy peace with the BJP?”. Otherwise, he said, there appeared to be no reason for the scheme to be implemented in Punjab when the state legislative assembly had unanimously resolved to reject it.
Warring also asked AP supremo Arvind Kejriwal to explain if he approved of CM Mann implementing the VB-G RAMG scheme in Punjab.
“Mr. Kejriwal must break his silence and clarify his position”, he remarked, adding, “Otherwise it will be established that the AAP actually has struck some opportunistic deal with the BJP”.
Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, Partap Singh Bajwa, asked AAP what had changed between December 30th and today. Punjabis deserve answers, he said, adding that if the special session was merely political theatrics.
“Why has the Mr. Mann Government reversed its stand? And was there any understanding with the BJP behind this U-turn?” he further asked.
Bajwa asked CM Mr. Mann and AAP supremo to explain why they opposed VB-G RAM G earlier and have implemented it now.
On December 30, 2025, the Punjab Assembly had unanimously passed a resolution against the VB-G RAM G Act in the Vidhan Sabha, accusing the BJP-led Centre of “taking away” the livelihoods of the poor and Dalit labourers by scrapping MGNREGA under a “deliberate conspiracy”.
The House had recommended that the Punjab government seek from the Centre restoration of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) to its original right-based form.
Published – June 27, 2026 04:56 pm IST