New Delhi, After the Finance Minister said that planning is on for continuing MNREGA works, Congress treasurer and close Sonia Gandhi aide Ahmed Patel said that now the government should stop mocking the flagship UPA policy.

Patel said that the Finance Minister's speech once again re-emphasises that MNREGA is one of the biggest safety nets for the vulnerable.

"Hope the government now stops mocking this landmark policy of the UPA government," added Patel

The Prime Minister in the past has mocked the scheme and said that MNREGA is the symbol of failure of the Congress for pushing people into poverty.

Patel said that the announcement of the Finance Minister wasn't an economic package. "It's an empty package wrapped by speeches since last 3 days," Patel said.

"The migrants and the poor were having great expectations after the PM's speech Sadly, the goverment has turned a blind eye to their problems and is back to headline management" he said.

The government should be serious about how much money it wants to transfer into hands of citizens Now it has been trapped by this number of Rs 20 lakh crore, Patel alleged.

Rather than struggling to reach this target by creative accounting, better to work with a reasonable but genuine figure, he said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said "MNREGA support for migrants, 14.62 crore persons - days of work generated till May 13 and actual expenditure to date is around Rs 10,000 crore. States/UTs are advised to provide work to migrant workers as per the Act. Planning is on for continuing MNREGA works in monsoon as well as plantations, horticulture, livestock related sheds."