Centre has snatched Panchayat rights by weakening MGNREGA: Vinay Kumar Sorake

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangaluru, Feb 13, 2026: The Central government has weakened the Panchayat system by implementing plans that undermine it in place of MGNREGA, thereby usurping the rights of Panchayats, alleged KPCC publicity committee president and former minister Vinay Kumar Sorake.

He was speaking on Thursday after inaugurating the fourth day of the ‘MNREGA Bachao Sangram’ foot march organised by the Dakshina Kannada District Congress. The yatra was launched by garlanding the statue of Mahatma Gandhi at Lalbagh in the city.

Sorake said Mahatma Gandhi had envisioned and promoted the concept of Gram Swaraj. However, the Central government removed Gandhi’s name from a rural development scheme, which, he alleged, amounted to an insult to the Father of the Nation.

Dakshina Kannada District Congress president Harish Kumar, Legislative Council member Ivan D’Souza, former MLA J.R. Lobo, district urban Mahila Congress president Appi, Eco-Tourism Board president Charlotte Pinto, Cashew Development Corporation president Mamata D.S. Gatti, former mayors M. Shashidhar Hegde, Bhasker K and K. Ashraf, Youth Congress president Ibrahim Nawaz, and several other Congress leaders and workers were present.