Bhubaneswar: Pointing to the electoral defeats of
BJD in Odisha and AAP in Delhi, BJP president and Union health minister J P Nadda on Friday said states that had refused to implement the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY) had been rejected by the people and predicted that a similar fate awaits West Bengal.
Speaking at an event in Cuttack to mark the launch of the Centre’s flagship health scheme, Nadda highlighted how Odisha under
Naveen Patnaik and Delhi under Arvind Kejriwal refused to implement the scheme, “leading to their govts being voted out.”
Taking aim at West Bengal, which remains the only state not to have implemented Ayushman Bharat, Nadda said it could face a similar fate like others.
Recalling that PM Narendra Modi had launched the scheme in Ranchi in 2018, Nadda said, as health minister he had kept requesting then Odisha chief minister to implement the scheme. “His arrogance came in the way. As a result, he was made to sit home and the lotus bloomed in Odisha,” Nadda said.
“I kept telling Arvind Kejriwal also to implement the scheme in Delhi. He did not. He had to bite the dust as well,” the BJP president pointed out, adding it is now the turn of West Bengal. “It’s time for the lotus to bloom in your neighbouring West Bengal. PM-JAY will be implemented there too,” Nadda said. Election for the 294-member West Bengal assembly is due early next year.
Responding to Nadda’s speech, BJD spokesperson Lenin Mohanty said the BJP govt’s initiatives prove Naveen govt’s Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana was the best.
“Now, after around one year of formation of the double-engine govt, we have a programme whose name was changed but continues to have all the features that were initiated by the earlier govt led by Naveen Patnaik,” Mohanty said, pointing out that only the name of BSKY was changed to Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (G-JAY).
The BJD spokesperson stated that the integrated Ayushman Bharat and G-JAY has retained “assurance” by a govt-run society instead of going for “insurance” by private companies, which was the model adopted by the BJD govt.
Similarly, it has kept a higher amount of Rs 10 lakh for women, a step initiated by the Naveen govt. “It proves that Naveen Patnaik leads the way,” Mohanty added.