Congress sets up coordination panel under Ajay Maken to oversee ‘MGNREGA Bachao Sangram’

New Delhi: A day after announcing 'MGNREGA Bachao Sangram', Congress on Sunday announced a committee under senior leader Ajay Maken with Jairam Ramesh and Priyank Kharge among others as members to monitor the nationwide agitation seeking restoration of the UPA-era rural employment guarantee programme.

Besides Maken, Ramesh and Kharge, the other members in the Coordination Committee are Sandeep Dikshit, Udit Raj, Anasuya Seethakka, Dipika Pandey Singh, Sunil Pawar and Manish Sharma.

Heads of all frontal organisations as well as chairpersons of OBC, Scheduled Castes, Minority and Adivasi Congress departments and Kisan Congress will also be members of the Coordination Committee, which will "oversee, guide, and monitor" the implementation of the 'MGNREGA Bachao Sangram'.

The decision to hold nationwide protest was taken at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee held here on December 27. On Saturday, Congress announced a 45-day agitation programme starting from January 10.

The agitation programme starts with press conferences at districts on January 10 followed by a one-day fast at district headquarters or near Gandhi or Ambedkar statues.

The phase 2 of the protest between January 12 and 30 will see panchayat-level meetings, distribution of letters by Kharge and top leader Rahul Gandhi to all MGNREGA workers and gram pradhans among others, Assembly-level meetings and culminate on January 30, the martyrdom anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, with peaceful sit-in protests at ward level.

The phase 3 – January 31 to February 25 – will see district-level dharnas till February 6 and state-level gherao of Assembly or Raj Bhavans or central government offices between February 7 and 15. Congress will also organise four major rallies across the country between February 16 and 25.