Delhi L-G slams Kejriwal for not implementing Ayushman Bharat
After Delhi BJP MPs on Wednesday filed a joint writ petition in the high court seeking implementation of the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the national capital, Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena accused AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal of not going ahead with the scheme out of "fear" of getting "exposed".
The developments came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the AAP government for blocking the health insurance scheme in the national capital out of "political interests".
In a long post on X in Hindi, Saxena accused Kejriwal of depriving lakhs of people in Delhi of the benefits of the scheme due to "fear" that its implementation might expose the truth behind the "false" health model being promoted by the ex-chief minister for which he takes credit.
"I do not take cognisance of your baseless statements, but this post is about a very people-oriented scheme of the Government of India - Ayushman Bharat, which benefits crores of Indians," Saxena said in his post.
The squabble over the health insurance scheme reached a boiling point after Kejriwal said Ayushman Bharat is not needed in Delhi as the AAP government provides free treatment and medicines to the people.
Citing a CAG report during a press conference, Kejriwal claimed Ayushman Bharat is riddled with "scams" as he offered the prime minister to replace it across the country with the Delhi model of health care.
Ayushman Bharat requires patients to be admitted to receive treatment but in Delhi there's no such condition and everything, from a Rs 5 tablet to treatment worth Rs 1 crore, is free, Kejriwal claimed.
"Since Delhi offers free medicine, tests, and treatment to all, Ayushman Bharat is simply not needed here," he said.
Hitting back at the AAP chief, the L-G said that in June 2018, the health department of Delhi government itself had recommended implementing the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the national capital, but Kejriwal opposed the move because he wanted his name to be associated with it.
"Your government talked about naming the Ayushman Bharat scheme as 'Chief Minister Aam Aadmi Health Insurance Scheme Ayushman Bharat'," Saxena claimed in his post.
The Centre even agreed to this with one condition -- to use "Chief Minister" after "Ayushman Bharat", but Kejriwal did not allow the Delhi government to implement the scheme due to his "narcissism and hunger for publicity", Saxena said.
The file of the scheme is still with Kejriwal's successor Chief Minister Atishi yet the poor people of Delhi are deprived of its benefits, the L-G said.
