AAP, BJP Slug Fest Over Delhi Health Model
New Delhi: The efficacy of Delhi's 'health model' versus the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme is set to shape the contours of the political contestation between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the run-up to the assembly polls in the national capital.
The polls for Delhi's 70-member assembly are three-and-a-half months away, slated for mid-February 2025.
AAP, which has ruled Delhi continuously since 2015, has projected its affordable 'health model', comprising primary health clinics, polyclinics and super-speciality hospitals, as a success story. The BJP disputes the AAP's claims.
On October 30, 2024, the BJP's Delhi unit termed the AAP's 'health model' a hoax, and accused the Delhi government of depriving its elderly from the benefits of the Centre's scheme.
In response, Delhi's Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj dubbed the Centre's scheme a 'failed initiative', and said Delhi's 'health model' provided free healthcare, which made the central scheme redundant.
Delhi's seven Lok Sabha MPs, all of whom belong to the BJP, filed a writ petition in the high court against the AAP government's decision to not implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in Delhi.
In a letter to AAP National Convenor and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi's Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena said the government of the Union Territory should implement the scheme.
Saxena alleged that the Delhi government's 'health model' was riddled with corruption and unavailability of equipment in hospitals that it runs.
In his letter, Saxena appended media reports that pointed to irregularities in the Delhi government-run Mohalla clinics and hospitals.
The Delhi BJP's move came a day after Prime Minister Narendra D Modi launched the expanded Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), which provides health coverage to all senior citizens aged 70 and above, regardless of their income.
Modi had lamented that governments in Delhi and West Bengal have refused to roll out the scheme, and 'apologised' to all the elderly aged 70 and above in the two states.
According to a 2021 study, Elderly in India, by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, the elderly (those above 60 years of age) comprised 5.2 per cent of Delhi's population in 2001, which increased to 6.8 per cent in 2011, and was estimated to be 9.3 per cent, or almost 2 million, in 2021.
The study projected that Delhi's elderly population would be 12.5 per cent, or a little over 3 million, by 2031.
According to Delhi's latest draft electoral roll, the UT has 15.35 million electors.
Earlier in the day, Kejriwal alleged that the Ayushman Bharat scheme is riddled with scams according to the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Bharadwaj argued that the eligibility requirements for the Ayushman Bharat scheme were restrictive, and if implemented, would keep a majority of Delhi's poor out of its purview
Under the Ayushman Bharat scheme for beneficiaries up to the age of 70, owners of computers, laptops, refrigerators, telephones, washing machines, and two wheelers were ineligible, he claimedWhy UDF concerned over namesakes in Palakkad, Chelakkara
The namesakes of prominent candidates contesting as independents have impacted election outcomes in the past and the strategy appears to be making a comeback in the assembly bypolls in Palakkad and Chelakkara constituencies.
As the three major political fronts -- Lefft Democratic Front, United Democratic Front and National Democractic Alliance -- enter the second phase campaigns, three individuals with names resembling those of the Congress-led UDF candidates have entered the race as independents in the two assembly seats.
In the Palakkad constituency, where a triangular contest is unfolding, two independent candidates -- Rahul Manalazhi and Rahul R Vadakanthara -- are posing a challenge for the UDF, which has fielded Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil.
The grand old party alleged that these namesake candidates are backed by the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Bharatiya Janata Party to confuse voters.
"Our initial inquiries indicate that one candidate is a CPI-M worker while the other is supported by the BJP. However, such tactics would not impact the UDF's prospects in any way," a local Congress leader involved in Mamkootathil's campaign told PTI on Thursday.
In Chelakkara, the candidacy of 46-year-old Haridasan, who is reportedly a CITU worker, has sparked a row with the resemblance of his name to that of UDF candidate and former MP Ramya Haridas.
His photo had also appeared on a flex board placed in the constituency seeking votes for CPI-M candidate UR Pradeep.
Following the row, the board was removed, according to Congress workers.
The CPI-M has not officially commented on the matter.
With the withdrawal of nominations over on Wednesday (October 30), a total of 10 candidates, including Mamkootathil, LDF-independent Dr P Sarin, and BJP leader C Krishnakumar, are in the fray for the Palakkad seat.
The two namesakes of the Congress candidate -- 33-year-old Rahul Manalazhi and 28-year-old Rahul R Vadakanthara -- were allocated the coconut farm and air conditioner poll symbols, respectively.
The bypoll for the seat was necessitated by the election of sitting MLA and Congress leader Shafi Parambil to the Lok Sabha from the Vadakara constituency in the recent parliamentary polls.
The Congress-led UDF had faced a jolt after Sarin, who was the former digital media cell convener of the KPCC, quit the grand old party in protest against its decision to field Mamkootathil as the party candidate in the constituency.
He later joined the CPI-M-led alliance, which made him an independent candidate and pitted him against Mamkootathil.
In Chelakkara, responding to the presence of her namesake, Haridas told reporters that the voters in the constituency know the UDF candidate and her symbol very well.
The by-election in Chelakkara has been necessitated by the vacating of the seat by CPI(M)'s K Radhakrishnan, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Alathur constituency, defeating sitting MP Ramya Haridas.
To retain the seat, CPI-M has fielded former MLA UR Pradeep, while K Balakrishnan is the BJP candidate.
According to political experts, one of the biggest political defeats in Kerala's electoral history occurred in 2004 when former KPCC president VM Sudheeran lost in the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency.
He was defeated by CPM-backed independent candidate KS Manoj by just 1,009 votes, largely due to the presence of his namesake, VS Sudheeran, who garnered 8,332 votes, the experts say.
