Days after it promised the Pyaari Didi Yojana if elected to power, the Congress, on Wednesday, announced a universal health insurance scheme ahead of the assembly elections next month.
The Congress has promised Rs 25 lakh health insurance for all, notwithstanding the economic background, as part of the Jeevan Raksha Yojana. The scheme is in line with Rajasthan's Chiranjeevi Yojana, the universal health insurance scheme announced in 2021 by the then Congress government headed by veteran leader Ashok Gehlot.
VIDEO | Delhi elections: While promising 'Jeevan Raksha Yojana', Congress leader Ashok Gehlot (@ashokgehlot51) says, "It was very successful in Rajasthan, it will be so in Delhi. The insurance of Rs 25 lakh is universal for everyone. There is also a free medicine scheme. There is… pic.twitter.com/IsJHppA8ed
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) January 8, 2025
The former Rajasthan chief minister was present, along with AICC Delhi in-charge Kazi Mohammad Nizamuddin and Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Devender Yadav, among other leaders, during the announcement on Wednesday.
“This scheme, if implemented in Delhi, can be a game-changer,” Gehlot said, as he emphasised how the similar scheme performed "well" in Rajasthan. In 2022, Rajasthan also became the first state in India to enact the Right to Health Act, he added. Emphasising on the need for such a scheme, Yadav said “the air and water of Delhi are polluted and the food adulterated”.
According to the Pyaari Didi Yojana, which was announced on January 6, every woman in Delhi will get Rs 2,500 per month, if the Congress comes to power.
As the contest in Delhi is heating up, parties are announcing schemes in a bid to woo voters. The polling for the Delhi Assembly elections will happen in a single phase on February 5, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday. The results will be declared on February 8.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) swept the previous elections held in 2020, winning 62 out of 70 seats. The BJP won the remaining eight seats, and Congress won none.