Arvind Kejriwal met PM Narendra Modi in parliament.
Highlights
- Arvind Kejriwal said he congratulated PM Modi for his Lok Sabha victory
- He also said he had invited PM Modi to visit a "Mohalla Clinic"
- BJP crushed AAP in 2019 polls after it won all 7 Delhi Lok Sabha seats
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in their first encounter after the national elections, promising to work with the central government and seeking help for the development of the capital city. Mr Kejriwal, chief of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which was decimated by the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls last month, voiced an uncharacteristically conciliatory tone following the meeting in parliament.
"Met Shri Narendra Modi and congratulated him for Lok Sabha victory," he said. He said he requested centre's support for harvesting Yamuna river's water during the monsoon as one season's water was "sufficient to meet one year's needs". Mr Kejriwal also said he had invited the Prime Minister to visit a "Mohalla Clinic" - the primary medical centres part of AAP's highly-praised healthcare policy.
"Ayushman Bharat (the centre's medical insurance scheme) was briefly discussed. Informed honourable PM that Delhi government Delhi Health scheme is much bigger and wider in scope. However, assured him to examine if Ayushman Bharat scheme could also be integrated into our scheme," he tweeted.
Arvind Kejriwal, 50, and his AAP have been one of the harshest opponents of the Prime Minister and the BJP with their animosity peaking during the Lok Sabha elections that ended last month. The BJP crushed the AAP, winning all seven of the parliamentary seats in the capital - a humiliating result considering Mr Kejriwal rules the city state with one of the biggest majorities anywhere in the country.
AAP has accused the BJP of everything from throttling the capital's development to sponsoring physical assaults on Arvind Kejriwal and even plotting his assassination. After a raid on his office by the CBI in 2015, the Chief Minister had called PM Modi a "coward and a psychopath".
The Aam Aadmi Party fought the Lok Sabha elections with the near-exclusive agenda of stopping PM Modi's re-election, saying the Prime Minister and BJP chief Amit Shah were against harmony between state and the central administrations and would change the constitution of the country to make it more autocratic.