New Delhi: The NREGA or the rural job guarantee scheme was UPA's trump card. In fact, even the BJP-ruled states tried to ride on the scheme's popularity, but now Congress wants its stamp over it.
And it has found a way to unmistakably identify the scheme with itself.
"Over the next three years, we will build 2.5 lakh Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras in every gram panchayat," said Rural Development Minister C P Joshi.
By doing so the Congress has addressed an in-house criticism of its bland, apolitical name National Rural Employment Guarantee.
"The biggest difficulty is that this Central scheme was being passed off by many state governments as their own," said Pradeep Jain, Minister of State for Rural Development.
Although the name NREGA stays, the Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras may do the trick as there'll be set up in two and a half lakh villages.
There was talk of renaming the NREGA as Rajeev Gandhi Grameen Rojgar Yojana, but that would not have been easy without a Parliamentary approval. So the government chose the next best option.
"How many developmental schemes has the Congress named after Lal Bahadur Shastri or Sardar Patel?" said BJP spokesperson Prakash Javdekar.
Clearly, the Opposition is not amused, but there's little it can do.