New Delhi: Seven Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from the national capital on Tuesday withdrew from the Delhi High Court their plea seeking implementation of the Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) in Delhi.
The seven BJP MPs from Delhi – Harsh Malhotra, Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, Praveen Khandelwal, Yogendra Chandolia, Manoj Tiwari, Kamaljeet Sehrawat and Bansuri Swaraj – had moved the High Court for implementation of the AB-PMJAY in the national capital.
Petitioners did not wish to press plea: High Court
A bench comprising Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said the petitioners did not wish to press the plea.
The counsel appearing for the MPs told the High Court that BJP won the recently-held Delhi assembly elections and it promised to implement the said scheme in its first cabinet meeting.
“I am withdrawing the petition as the new dispensation in Delhi has promised to implement the Ayushman Bharat scheme in the first cabinet meeting,” the counsel said, news agency PTI reported.
What did the BJP MPs argue?
The petitioner BJP MPs argued that Delhi was the only Union Territory (UT) where the Centre-funded healthcare scheme for the underprivileged was yet to be implemented and it deprived them of an essential health coverage of Rs 5 lakh.
“Of 36 states/UTs, 33 have implemented the scheme and at present the government of Odisha is actively considering the implementation of the scheme. However, the scheme has not been implemented in NCT of Delhi,” the BJP MPs claimed.
What did the petition seek?
The petitioner MPs from sought the then Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-led Delhi government to implement the Centre-funded healthcare scheme, saying that “clash of political ideologies must take a back seat” in the interest of welfare of the residents of Delhi.
The High Court earlier expressed shock over the Delhi government reportedly not accepting the financial aid through Centre-funded healthcare scheme when there was “no money” with it for its healthcare system.
