Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, on Wednesday, hit out at former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal for keeping the people of the city away from Ayushman Bharat scheme for fear of exposure of the AAP government’s sham health model.
Taking to social media, the LG addressed Kejriwal in Hindi stating that he opposed the Centre’s scheme only because he wanted his name to be associated with the same in some way or the other. In June 2018, the Health Department of the Delhi government had recommended the implementation of this scheme in public interest, and the then health minister had given permission for it.
He further said that in August 2018, the AAP government talked about renaming the Ayushman Bharat Scheme “Chief Minister Aam Aadmi Health Insurance Scheme Ayushman Bharat”. However, the Centre, which bears most of the cost of this scheme, had also agreed with the Delhi government by simply asking to mention the CM after “Ayushman Bharat,” LG said.
Saxena said thereafter, acknowledging the benefits the poor people would get from this scheme, the then Deputy CM/ Finance Minister in his Budget Speech for 2020-21, also announced that AAP government would implement “Ayushman Bharat Jan Arogya Yojana” in Delhi and will provide insurance assistance of Rs 5 lakh to every family under it.
The LG alleged despite all this, Kejriwal’s hunger for publicity did not allowed him to implement the scheme till now.
Saxena, told Kejriwal that presently, the file in this regard is lying with his successor Atishi, while the poor in Delhi are still deprived of the benefits of this scheme. He said he wanted to draw the AAP chief’s attention to Delhi government’s so-called health model, which he said is nothing but a web of illusion.
The LG expressed the hope that the AAP chief would shun politics and get the Ayushman Bharat Scheme implemented for the people of Delhi as soon as possible.