# TN Congress chief accuses Centre of withholding Rs 2,087 crore MGNREGS funds 2026-08-25T20:32:46+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president Manickam Tagore has accused the BJP-led Union government of withholding Rs 2,087 crore due to Tamil Nadu under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. In a social media post, Tagore said information obtained through the RTI Act exposed the Centre's step-motherly treatment of the state. Tagore said that between April 1 and June 30 of the 2026-27 financial year, Tamil Nadu provided employment to 31.47 lakh workers from 29.83 lakh families, generating 3.22 crore person-days of work and spending Rs 1,804 crore. He alleged the failure to release funds had placed a severe financial burden on the state. In a letter to Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Tagore noted central releases had fallen from Rs 13,395 crore in 2023-24 to Rs 10,744 crore in 2024-25, a 19.79% reduction, and further to Rs 6,254 crore in 2025-26. He urged the immediate release of the pending Rs 2,087 crore. ## Indian Opinion Analysis MGNREGS is a central scheme with a mandated 60:40 wage-material funding ratio between the Centre and states. Tamil Nadu has historically been one of the top implementing states, consistently generating among the highest person-days annually. The RTI route Tagore used is a common opposition tactic to force disclosure of fund release data that the Centre controls. The actual test of the allegation will come when the Union Rural Development Ministry responds to his letter or when the Finance Ministry releases the quarterly statement of MGNREGS allocations. The next such statement is expected before the end of September. ## Coverage - thehindu.com Leads with the allegation and reports it without any editorial slant or verification. This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: BJP, Manickam Tagore, MGNREGS, Narendra Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Tamil Nadu Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/tn-congress-chief-accuses-centre-of-withholding-rs-2087-crore-mgnregs-funds/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/tn-congress-chief-accuses-centre-of-withholding-rs-2087-crore-mgnregs-funds/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/