ONI Bureau: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi sounded the poll bugle in Odisha by coming down heavily on BJD Government and CM Naveen Patnaik in two public meetings in Talcher and Jharsuguda, BJP President Amit Shah lashed out at the Odisha CM on the issue of opting out of Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme, which was launched today.
Amit Shah, who will be on a visit to Odisha tomorrow to attend the BJP Mahila Morcha meeting in Puri, tweeted in Odia, saying, “The Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, which is the world’s largest healthcare scheme, was launched today. However, it’s very sad, unfortunate and condemnable that Odisha CM had kept peoplf of Odisha out of Ayushman Bharat either because of own political interest or antipathy”.
“It’s because of BJD’s narrow mindedness, the poor in Odisha are deprived of this scheme. Naveen Patnaik will be answerable to people for such petty politics. BJP workers will reach every house of the state against your anti-poor politics and awake them on their rights,” he further tweeted.
The BJD Government had opted out of ‘Ayushman Bharat’ scheme and launched its own ‘Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana’ saying it would cover all 70 lakh beneficiaries – nearly nine lakh more families than the central scheme. However, the state scheme won’t benefit those who move out of Odisha for treatment whereas the central scheme provides free treatment up to Rs 5 lakh anywhere in India.
While both schemes provide free treatment of up to Rs 5 lakh, Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana offers Rs 7 lakh health coverage to women beneficiaries.