Senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Saturday accused the BJP-led Union government of weakening employment opportunities for poor, Dalit and rural workers by changing the country’s rural employment scheme.Addressing a press conference, Cheema said the latest figures had vindicated concerns raised by the AAP after the scheme was renamed VB-G RAM-G.Cheema claimed that around 9.56 crore fewer person-days of employment had been generated compared with the previous year. He said the figure had fallen from around 30 crore person-days to approximately 20.4 crore, representing a significant decline in employment opportunities for rural workers.He alleged that the changes had particularly affected Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, which, he stated, account for around 87 per cent of workers covered under the scheme. Cheema accused the BJP government of acting against the interests of poor and marginalised communities.He also alleged that the government had failed to fulfil its promise of increasing employment under the scheme to 125 days, arguing that employment opportunities had instead declined.Cheema said the figures demonstrated what he described as the adverse impact of changes made to the scheme and demanded greater attention to employment opportunities for rural workers.