BJP MPs in the national capital on Wednesday filed a writ petition in Delhi High Court against the AAP government for not joining the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme.

The development comes a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hit out at the Delhi and Bengal governments for failing to implement the scheme because of “political interests”.

BJP’s New Delhi MP Bansuri Swaraj told reporters: “People from outside Delhi come to Delhi hospitals and take advantage of this (Ayushman Bharat) scheme. Delhiites are
deprived of it. If any government is in power for the last 10 years, it is expected
that the infrastructure of hospitals will develop but there is not one new hospital in Delhi under the Arvind Kejriwal government.”

The BJP leaders also claimed that two-thirds of the mohalla clinics weren’t functional and alleged that sub-par medicines were supplied in the ones that did.

In a media conference on Wednesday, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and his party colleagues alleged that the Ayushman Bharat scheme was riddled with corruption. They compared it to Delhi’s healthcare regime that also grants public funds to patients to get treated in private hospitals.

Citing last year’s report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on malpractices in the implementation of Ayushman Bharat, Kejriwal said Delhi’s universal healthcare had lesser corruption than the Centre’s health insurance.

“Every resident of Delhi, whether they have a simple cold or need hospitalisation, receives all treatment, medication and tests for free — no limits, no caps. Yesterday, I requested the Prime Minister to study Delhi’s healthcare model and consider implementing it across the nation. It’s not about whose scheme it is, it’s about ensuring quality healthcare for every citizen,” he stated.