BENGALURU: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said that the concerns expressed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu over VB-G RAM G Act must be raised in Parliament. They cannot be addressed through selective concessions or private assurances, he said.
Taking to social media platform ‘X’, the CM said the reports that Naidu has raised concerns with the Union government over the implementation of the VB-G RAM G Act, especially regarding the altered funding pattern and the additional burden on states, are politically significant and consequential for Centre-State relations. These concerns are important as they come from a key ally of the BJP, whose support is critical to the NDA government.
The CM said for months, the Congress party and Opposition-ruled states, including Karnataka, have warned that the VB-G RAM G Act weakens cooperative federalism by shifting financial responsibility onto states.
“A BJP ally now echoing these concerns exposes a clear rupture within the NDA and undermines the BJP’s defence of the law. The Union government and the BJP must explain why the same objections were earlier dismissed as political criticism,’’ he said.
The CM also explained that the contrast between the two laws is clear. “Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), rural employment was a legal right backed by assured central funding. Under the new Act, that certainty is lost.
States are required to implement the programme while sharing the cost, without any statutory guarantee of funds. What was once a guaranteed right of the people has been reduced to a matter of negotiation.
This shift has serious implications. When a Chief Minister is compelled to seek alternative financial support through private discussions, it signals that access to funds is being determined by bargaining power rather than by law. In the present political context, this raises the risk that allocations may be influenced by political alignment, adversely affecting Opposition-ruled states, including Karnataka, the Chief Minister added.
The Chief Minister demanded that the VB-G RAM G Act must be repealed and the MGNREGA Act restored, with necessary reforms.