Union Minister Smriti Irani on Thursday said the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre gave more funds to West Bengal than the previous Congress regime.

Speaking at a rally in South 24 Paraganas district, Irani said the UPA government gave ₹ 1 lakh crore to the state, while the Modi government gave ₹ 2.80 lakh crore under the 14th Finance Commission.

The senior BJP leader also hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for spurning the Centre’s heathcare scheme Ayushman Bharat.

“Ask Mamata Banerjee why she is averse to Ayushman Bharat health scheme under which poor people of the state can avail of ₹ 5 lakh per family for treatment purposes,” she said.

Stating that 2.26 lakh people in the state have benefitted from the Jan Dhan Yojana apart from other Central schemes, Irani slammed Banerjee for being “most ungrateful” to the Centre.

She also took a dig at the Trinamool Congress chief for trying to form alliance parties, which she said did not cooperate with her for coming to power.

“Now you (Mamata) are dreaming of creating an alliance with the Congress,” she said.

Irani said the BJP workers tolerated the torture of Congress, TMC and CPI(M) in the state and called upon people to elect the Prime Minister Narendra Modi once again.

“Ar ekbar Modi sarkar (Modi government once again),” she said.

Speaking at the rally, state BJP president Dilip Ghosh slammed the state government and accused Banerjee of wilfully stopping the party’s programmes ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

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