Taking a swipe on the Mamata Banerjee authorities for allegedly obstructing the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat scheme in West Bengal, Union Well being Minister and BJP president J P Nadda stated Friday that the time has come for the lotus to bloom within the state.
Talking on the scheme’s launch in Odisha, Nadda stated that at any time when a state acquired in the best way of the Modi authorities’s welfare schemes, the single-engine authorities needed to give method to a double-engine authorities – a reference to the BJP ruling each the Centre and the state.
“There have been three states that didn’t implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme regardless of repeated requests by the Centre. One was Odisha, the place the lotus has bloomed. The second was Delhi, the place (Arvind) Kejriwal turned a hindrance to the scheme and confronted defeat. I wish to inform that neighbouring Bengal has additionally not carried out it,” stated Nadda, talking in Cuttack.
The meeting election in Bengal is due in March-April 2026.
Implementing the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) was a key ballot promise of the BJP in Odisha, which might be carried out alongside the Gopabandhu Jan Arogya Yojana (GJAY), the state’s personal well being scheme.
Nadda stated round 3.5 crore folks out of the state’s 4.5 crore might be lined beneath the 2 schemes.
Odisha, dominated by the BJD till June 2024, was among the many opposition-ruled states that didn’t implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme and launched its personal — the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) – which has now been rebranded as GJAY.
Barely a month earlier than the Centre carried out Ayushman Bharat in September 2018, Naveen Patnaik had introduced the BSKY, triggering a political slugfest.
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The state scheme ensured cashless therapy as much as Rs 5 lakh (Rs 10 lakh for girls), overshadowing the central scheme, and lined 96 lakh households within the state.
Due to its reputation, the BJP, after assuming energy in Odisha, determined to proceed the scheme with a brand new identify (GJAY) in convergence with Ayushman Bharat.
The Odisha authorities entered into an settlement with the Union Well being Ministry in January to implement the scheme.
Officers stated that lakhs of Odia folks, particularly these migrating to totally different states seeking jobs, who had been disadvantaged of the advantages of the central scheme, will now be capable of avail of it.
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Nadda additionally launched the Ayushman Vay Vandana Yojana in Odisha without spending a dime therapy to these above 70 years of age no matter their revenue.
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