Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta addresses a press conference with Ministers Kapil Mishra, left, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, second left, Parvesh Verma, second right, and Ashish Sood, after a meeting of the new Cabinet at the Delhi Secretariat in New Delhi on February 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Thursday (February 20, 2025) said the Cabinet had decided in its first meeting to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, and also to table 14 pending Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the Delhi Assembly.
“Two main decisions have been taken. First, Ayushman Yojana, which was stalled by the earlier government and because of the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) government, people of Delhi did not get it. Today’s first Cabinet meeting has taken a decision to implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Delhi with ₹5 lakh top-up from the Delhi government. Also, ₹5 lakh will be given by the Central government. It’ll be implemented as early as possible,” Ms. Gupta said, briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting.
“Second, 14 CAG reports which were pending and not tabled by the earlier government will be tabled in the first Assembly session,” she said.
When asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) campaign promise of providing ₹2,500 per month to women, the Chief Minister said it was discussed at the Cabinet meeting, but more discussions were required for taking a call on which categories of women would secure the benefits.
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“I have taken charge of the Chief Minister’s office after the oath-taking. The mission of ‘Viksit Delhi’, to complete it, we will keep working towards it. We won’t wait even a single day. And we will complete every commitment we had made,” Ms. Gupta said earlier in the day.
On February 10, even before the Chief Minister took oath, the Chief Secretary of Delhi had asked all departments concerned to prepare draft Cabinet notes based on the BJP’s manifesto, wherever it was required.
He had also asked all departments to prepare a “100 days’ action plan” based on the BJP’s manifesto, officials said.
The AAP government not tabling the 14 CAG reports had become controversial with the then BJP Opposition MLAs filing a petition with the Delhi High Court in 2024. They sought a direction from the High Court to the Speaker to call a sitting of the Assembly for the tabling of the reports.
During a hearing held on January 13, the court had said the CAG reports should have been promptly placed before the Assembly for discussion and the State government “dragging its feet” on the issue raised “doubts on its bona fides”.
Meanwhile, senior AAP leader and former Chief Minister Atishi alleged that the BJP has betrayed women of Delhi by not taking a decision on the promise of giving aid for women. “Mr. [Narendra] Modi and Amit Shah along with entire BJP had promised that in the very first Cabinet meeting they will approve the scheme of ₹2,500 per month to all women in Delhi. It is very sad that the woman Chief Minister broke promise made to women of Delhi,” she said. Responding to it, Ms. Gupta said the government was theirs and they would do the work and questioned what the AAP did during its tenure.
In the run-up to the Delhi election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the scheme for ₹2,500 for women would be passed in the first Cabinet meeting of the BJP government and he had termed it “Modi ki guarantee”.
After taking oath at the Ramlila Maidan, several Ministers, including Kapil Mishra, entered the Delhi Secretariat amidst chants of “Jai Shri Ram”.
Sources said Manjinder Singh Sirsa, and Mr. Mishra will sit on the eighth floor of the Secretariat, Parvesh Sahib Singh on the sixth floor, and Mr. Sood, Pankaj Singh and Ravinder Indraj Singh on the seventh floor.
Published – February 20, 2025 11:09 pm IST