NEW DELHI: On Friday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla asked a Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP not to do “marketing” of the West Bengal government when the latter countered the Centre’s allegation that the state was not joining the Ayushman Bharat scheme.

During the Question Hour, when TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said that the Mamata government had come out with a 'Health Partner Project' scheme, five lakh rupees per family is being paid every year. Earlier, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Harsh Vardhan alleged that the Mamata government withdrew from the Ayushman Bharat Yojana of the central government in 2019. Bandyopadhyay was responding to his allegation.  As soon as TMC MP Sudip took the name of the state government's health plan, the Lok Sabha speaker said, "You have not come here to market the West Bengal government. You ask your question."

Then Sudip Bandyopadhyay wanted to know from the Minister whether any other state besides Bengal has refused to adopt the Ayushman Bharat Yojana which started in 2018. In response, Harsh Vardhan said that West Bengal, Telangana, Delhi, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Punjab have not yet implemented the Ayushman Yojana. He said the scheme has been brought for the benefit of the people and the state governments should also participate in it.

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