West Bengal chief minister
Mamata Banerjee withdrew the state from its share of
Ayushman Bharat, asking the Centre to pay the complete amount if it wants to run the scheme.
My state will not contribute 40% of the funds for the Ayushman scheme, she said.
Ayushman Bharat is National Health Protection Scheme, which is expected to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization.
Her earlier tussle with the Centre was over the deployment of central forces in
Darjeeling hills. To which, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had responded by saying that paramilitary forces cannot substitute police and should be deployed only in emergencies.
At the rally in
Nadia district, Mamata Banerjee also derided Prime Minister Modi. "He (the Prime Minister) gives such speeches. But he can't speak English. He uses a teleprompters. Media knows.
She also said that state had a better option in Arogyashri, Chief Minister had stayed out of the Central plan - a move that had hugely irked the Prime Minister.