Ayushman Bharat row: "Delhi government is doing politics of malice," says BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj

Addressing a press conference, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj said, "Yesterday, the PM expressed his sadness at the fact the senior citizens over 70 years of age of West Bengal and Delhi will not be able to get benefits of the Ayushman Bharat scheme as West Bengal and Delhi governments are doing politics of malice..."

A political row has erupted between AAP and BJP after Narendra Modi criticized the Delhi and West Bengal governments for failing to implement the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme out of "political interests."

Notably, Delhi and West Bengal are among the states where the Centre's Ayushman Bharat Yojana is not implemented.

In response to PM Modi's criticism AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal stated that the Delhi health care model is better than the Ayush Bharat Yojana and asked PM to study the Dlhi's model and implement it throughout the country.

Accusing Delhi government of not improving health infrastructure in the National Capital, Bansuri Swaraj said, "If any government is in power for the last ten years, then it is expected that the infrastructure of the hospitals will have developed but there is not one new hospital in Delhi under Arvind Kejriwal government."

"Arvind Kejriwal government has also committed a medicine procurement scam where the worst quality of medicines is used and made available to the patients in Mohalla clinics of Delhi," she further added.

Earlier in the day, Kejriwal said that Delhi's healthcare model is not limited to 5 lakhs.

On Tuesday, PM Modi while addressing the inauguration of various health projects at the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) in the national capital on the occasion of 9th Ayurveda Day, stated that the walls of the political interests have hindered its implementation in their states.

"I apologise to all the elderly people above 70 years of age in Delhi and all the elderly people above 70 years of age in West Bengal that I will not be able to serve you. I apologise to them that I will know how you are. I will get the information but I will not be able to help you the reason is that the government in Delhi and the government in West Bengal are not joining this Ayushman Yojana. Elderly in Delhi, Bengal won't be able to benefit from Ayushman Bharat as their governments are not implementing it for political reasons," the PM said.

The Ayushman Bharat Yojana is a scheme that aims to procure free access to health insurance coverage for families with low incomes. The scheme was launched in 2018 by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. (ANI)