VIJAYAWADA: Public health scheme Aarogyasri in Andhra Pradesh is not an original scheme of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and it is another form of Ayushman Bharat, introduced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asserted BJP national president JP Nadda. Addressing Shakti Kendra Pramukh Sammelan (booth level party functionaries meeting) in Vijayawada on Monday, the first day of his two-day visit to AP, Nadda said the Central programme is being publicised as the State scheme.
“Under Ayushman Bharat, treatment up to `5 lakh is provided to poor people across the country. Even if a beneficiary gets treated in Hyderabad or elsewhere in the country, he will get medical reimbursement. However, Aarogyasri is confined to AP only,” he said. Nadda said not just Ayushman Bharat, but there are several other schemes like electrical connections under Saubhagya, PM Kisan Samman Yojana, that have benefited people of AP. “These things need to be told to people by party functionaries at booth level, so they will know the facts,” he said.
The BJP chief, who described his party as the only national party in the country, said it is contesting against family-based parties from Jammu and Kashmir to down South in almost every State. “In Jammu and Kashmir, it is against NC which is a party of father and son, Uttar Pradesh it is Baap Beta party, Bihar it is Lalu and Tejashwi, in Andhra it is YSRC and TDP, in Telangana it is TRS, which is Baap, Beta, Beti, Bathija and in future even grandson party,” he remarked.
It is only in BJP, where a common man can become a Prime Minister like Narendra Modi, he averred and cautioned people that family politics poses a grave threat to development of nation.Nadda commenced his speech stating that it was a good omen to discuss the roadmap for strengthening the party from the land, which is known as land of victory and success. In his more than 30 minutes speech, the BJP chief’s focus was on how the party should be strengthened from the booth-level, so as to emerge as a main contender in 2024 elections and win the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats from the State.
He wanted all the 46,000 booth level committees to become proactive in publicising what Modi Sarkar did to Andhra Pradesh in the last eight years, which has been brought out in the form of a book. He wanted Shakti Kendra Pramukhs to form booth level committees and bring all sections of the society into the BJP fold. He urged them to visit every household and see the BJP flag flutters on each house. “You all should interact with people, know their problems, check if the Central schemes are reaching the beneficiaries or not,” he said.
Further, they were directed to interact with five new people every day and explain the BJP ideology to them. “You tell them that only BJP has leaders, leadership, vision, policies, programmes, wherewithal to implement programmes, determination to build a nation and ambition for growth,” he said.
Nadda said under Modi’s leadership, India emerged as world number 3 in energy consumption. It has a strong manufacturing eco-system with exports touching $500 billion, stands second in global retail growth. It has one nation one tax (GST), one nation one ration card, 40% of monetary transactions in digital, 22 lakh crore getting benefited through Direct Benefit Transfer, he highlighted.
“Today you all came here without wearing a mask, because you were vaccinated against Covid-19. It was Modi, who ensured that 200 crore people were double vaccinated and saw that the country could provide one and half crore free vaccine doses to 48 countries. IMF projections show the Indian growth rate at 8.7 %, the number of people below the poverty line reduced from 22% to 10%, maximum poverty level come down from 1.1% to 0.8%, literacy rate increased from 69% to 75%,” he explained.
Paying homage to former BJP State president Chilakam Ramachandra Reddy, Nadda said Andhra’s connection with BJP is from the very beginning and one of its first two MPs was from AP. He called upon the party activists to strive for the victory of BJP candidate Bharat Kumar in Atmakur bypoll.
Later in the evening during an interaction programme with intellectuals, Nadda described the last eight years rule of Modi as a period of great change that dispelled the darkness of underdevelopment with a plethora of schemes.