Top Cong leaders attend CWC meet, discuss further action against govt on G RAM G law
New Delhi (PTI): Top Congress leaders on Saturday are attending a crucial meeting of the working committee, the party's highest decision-making body.
They are deliberating on the current political situation in the country and the party's further action against the government after it replaced the UPA-era rural employment scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) with the new Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Act (VB-G RAM G).
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The extended meeting of the Congress Working Committee is being attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and former party president Rahul Gandhi, besides chief ministers of the Congress-ruled states of Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh.
Presidents of Pradesh Congress Committees (PCC) are also present at the meeting.
The meeting comes ahead of next year's assembly polls in Assam, Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and the leaders are expected to deliberate on the party strategy.
The opposition party is set to finalise its action plan to counter the government after it repealed the MGNREGA, 2005.
The Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) Bill that replaced the UPA-era MGNREGA was passed during the recently concluded winter session of Parliament. President Droupadi Murmu has already given her assent to it.
The Congress and other opposition parties have taken strong exception to the new law replacing MGNREGA, stating that it is an insult to Mahatma Gandhi as his name has been removed from its title.
The new law makes a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in a financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
However, instead of being a Central scheme, the new law provides that the Centre and the states will have to share a 60:40 per cent ratio funding for the scheme.
आज कांग्रेस मुख्यालय इंदिरा भवन में कांग्रेस वर्किंग कमेटी (CWC) की बैठक हुई।
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 27, 2025
इस बैठक में कांग्रेस अध्यक्ष श्री @kharge, CPP चेयरपर्सन श्रीमती सोनिया गांधी जी और नेता विपक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi समेत वर्किंग कमेटी के सदस्य मौजूद रहे।
📍 दिल्ली pic.twitter.com/59tNp0qawD
संविधान विरोधी BJP pic.twitter.com/YA2kBGIW1E
— Congress (@INCIndia) December 27, 2025
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Mule bank accounts frozen in crackdown on cyber fraudsters in Karnataka, 68 held
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka State Cyber Command has arrested 68 people as part of a statewide drive against mule bank accounts and “mule herders” involved in cyber fraud, officials said on Friday.
The special operations, which have been continuing since last week across Karnataka, targeted networks engaged in aggregating and selling mule bank accounts used for cyber crimes.
The arrests were made between December 2025 and February 2026, police said in an updated report.
“The Karnataka Cyber Command has conducted statewide special operations against Mule accounts and mule herders across Karnataka. The special drive has continued since last week and this is an updated report,” the department said in a statement.
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Police said the investigation identified a network of “mule herders” — individuals who aggregate and misuse mule bank accounts — who were retailing and selling such accounts to cyber criminals.
A total of 68 key accused and suspects have been arrested during the period.
According to the statement, mule herders had collected personal information and documents from unsuspecting laypersons and opened multiple bank accounts in the names of their relatives.
“These accounts were operated in a business-like manner,” it added.
As part of the crackdown, police registered 60 cases and identified 869 mule accounts across the state. As many as 8,788 complaints were registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP) against the identified mule accounts.
The total money involved in all NCRP-linked crimes stood at Rs 85.05 crore, of which Rs 13.43 crore has been put on hold, the Cyber Command said.
During the drive, police obtained 32 search warrants and conducted 35 searches. In the searches, 35 ATM cards, 37 passbooks, 80 mobile phones, 28 cheque books and 22 SIM cards were seized, along with other incriminating materials, officials said. Pronab Mohanty, the Director General of Police (Karnataka State Cyber Command) supervised the special drive, police added.
