Rekha Gupta’s ‘Delhi’s malik’ jibe at Kejriwal and Modi-Modi chants during Budget presentation

New Delhi:  The Delhi Assembly reverberated with Modi-Modi chants on Tuesday as Delhi CM Rekha Gupta presented her government’s first Budget in the House.

While presenting Rs 1 lakh crore Budget, the city’s largest ever, CM Rekha Gupta took multiple jibes at the previous dispensation and slammed it for broken promises and relying more on advertisements and publicity than the groundwork.

Taking a caustic dig at the “AAP-da” model, Rekha Gupta said, “Delhi’s malik (owner) had promised to transform the city into London. He sold this idea to the people of Delhi, however, the city only turned chaotic with broken roads, traffic jams and incomplete projects.”

Calling it “advertisement government,” she said that the previous dispensation only put up posters and hoardings for publicity and didn’t pay attention to policy-making for public welfare.

“More amount was spent on hoarding than on infrastructure. There were no schemes, but the advertisements were always there,” she added.

She also hit out at the “AAP-da” government and blamed it for stalling the development of the city for its political motives and denying the people the advantages of many Central schemes, including Ayushman Bharat Yojana.

“The previous government spent less on development, saying that they did not have the funds. However, if they had not stalled implementation of Central schemes for their political motives, then there wouldn’t have been any deficiency of funds,” she said.

“Everyone knows that the Ayushman Bharat scheme was implemented in the entire nation; everyone got direct benefit from it. However, despite repeated calls made by the Centre to implement it in Delhi, it was not done. It was because the previous Chief Minister wanted his name to be added to the scheme. And the entire Delhi had to bear the consequences of this,” she added.

Highlighting the roll-out of Ayushman Bharat in Delhi, she said, “The day government took charge, immediately after the oath, in the first cabinet meeting it was decided to implement Ayushman Bharat in the capital and this scheme will soon be implemented. People will get best health services in the form of schemes like Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, Ayushman Arogya Mandir and Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Infrastructure Mission.”

“Our government did this, and it was also decided that along with the insurance of Rs 5 lakh given by the Centre under Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana, the Delhi government will provide additional insurance of Rs 5 lakh,” she added.

–IANS