India, March 27 -- The Himachal Pradesh assembly witnessed a heated exchange between chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and leader of the opposition (LoP) Jai Ram Thakur over alleged financial irregularities in the state's flagship Himcare health scheme.

While Thakur accused the Congress government of using false data to dismantle the scheme out of political vendetta, Sukhu defended his administration, citing internal audit findings that flagged fraudulent billing, including ovarian surgeries billed for male patients.

The Mukhya Mantri Himachal Health Care Scheme (Himcare) was launched on January 1, 2019, by the Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government to provide cashless treatment of up to Rs.5 lakh a year to families excluded from the cen...