Krishnanagar: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Thursday announced that the state is pulling out of the Centre's Ayushman Bharat scheme, accusing the Narendra Modi-led NDA government of "playing dirty politics" under the garb of the health coverage programme.
A top government official said that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government has written to the Centre to notify about its decision to withdraw from the scheme.
The ambitious Ayushman Bharat or the National Health Protection Scheme, which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in August last year, aims to cover over ten crore poor and vulnerable families (approximately 50 crore beneficiaries) by providing health cover up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year.
The expenses incurred is to be shared between the Centre and the state in 60:40 ratio. The TMC supremo alleged that the prime minister was "politicising" the health scheme by sending letters about its provisions to every household of the state with his picture and a lotus symbol on top.
The Centre is "using" post offices to dispatch these letters, she said.