West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has said that the state will pull out of the Central government health scheme Ayushman Bharat. She said this on Thursday at a rally in Nadia district.
“We will no longer contribute to Ayushman Bharat. Why should we contribute to the programme if the Prime Minister’s face is on the letterhead with a picture of lotus, instead of the symbol of the government of India?” Banerjee asked.
A pet project of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ayushman Bharat was launched in September last year. But five states – including Telengana, Odisha, Delhi, Kerala and Punjab, all non-BJP states – refused to opt for it, saying they had better healthcare options for people.
This is the second Central government programme that the Bengal CM has refused to be associated with, in a matter of a couple of weeks. Last week, Banerjee had said that her government won’t allow the BJP-led Centre to tag its name with crop insurance for farmers in the state just by bearing 20 per cent of the cost. During an administrative meeting in Birbhum district, she had said that from now on the state government would pay the entire amount and won’t allow the Centre to take credit by just bearing a minuscule share of the cost.
