New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) 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 from 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 that 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 healthcare.
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 LG 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 LG said.
Saxena also termed the "so-called health model" of AAP government a "web of illusion" created by Kejriwal's "powerful propaganda machinery".
Earlier on Wednesday, BJP's seven Lok Sabha MPs in the national capital filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against the AAP government's decision to not implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme.
Addressing a press conference, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva said that while presenting the budget for 2021-21 in the Assembly, the then Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said the Ayushman Bharat scheme will be implemented in the national capital.
Slamming the AAP for going back on its promise, Sachdeva said the BJP will now fight a legal battle to ensure that the benefits of the scheme reach the elderly and other eligible persons in Delhi.
Meanwhile, the AAP sharpened its attack on Narendra Modi with Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj terming the health insurance scheme a "failed" initiative.
Speaking at a press conference, Bharadwaj said, "Ayushman Bharat is a failed scheme due to its restrictive eligibility criteria. Whereas the Arvind Kejriwal model in Delhi gives free healthcare irrespective of the fact that you own a refrigerator, motorcycle, or anything."
Questioning the viability of the scheme in the BJP-ruled states, Bharadwaj said, "You go to the government hospitals in Delhi like the GB Pant and GTB, you will find so many people from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Haryana getting their surgeries done there."
Calling the Ayushman Bharat scheme a "scam", AAP chief spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar claimed that out of the 27,000 hospitals incorporated under it, only 7,000 exist on paper while 4,000 hospitals have not admitted any patients under the scheme.