‘Delhi model’ showing direction to entire country: CM Kejriwal

Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday said the “Delhi model” of governance is showing direction to the entire country in terms of education, health and electricity supply.

Addressing the House, he slammed the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme as the “biggest scam”. This came a day after Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena asked him to implement the central scheme here.

Before beginning his address, the chief minister asked members of the House to salute his former deputy Manish Sisodia, who was arrested by the CBI in the Delhi excise policy case on February 26 last year.

Speaking on the motion of thanks on the L-G’s address, Kejriwal criticised BJP MLAs for causing multiple interruptions during the address.

“We may have differences between the government and opposition. But the House is considered the temple of democracy and it is necessary to maintain decorum here. It has never happened earlier. But this time and before this, the opposition created a ruckus by raising slogans during the L-G’s address,” Kejriwal said.

Seven BJP MLAs were suspended for the remainder of the Assembly’s Budget session for interrupting the L-G’s address.

“It is a matter of defying the decorum of the House. I condemn this and hope that my opposition friends will not commit such acts in the future,” Kejriwal said. Kejriwal said the L-G, in his address, has mentioned the works done by the Delhi government. “In the 75 years of Independent India, the works that are being done in Delhi today haven’t been done anywhere else in the country,” he said.

“If such work would have been done (earlier), there wouldn’t have been a need for us to join politics. We had no interest in joining politics. Today, the Delhi model is being discussed across the country,” he added.

Outlining various initiatives of his government in education, health and power sectors, the chief minister said, “The AAP’s Delhi Model is showing a direction to the entire country.”