india

Updated: Jan 11, 2019 17:45 IST

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for using a teleprompter for delivering speeches in English.

“People think he speaks good English. But does he speak it? He simply reads out written speeches with help of teleprompter,” said Banerjee from the dais of a government programme to lay the foundation stone of Banerjee’s pet Kanyashree University, a varsity for women, in Nadia district. The venue was full of students.

“You people should know about teleprompter. A transparent glass is placed in front of him. People cannot see it but the media persons know everything about it. We all know.

“One can simply read out from written speeches. We do not indulge in such practice. We speak impromptu, doesn’t matter whether we speak well or poorly,” the Trinamool Congress chief said.

Mamata has been targeting Modi over several issues in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

On Thursday, alleging that the Centre is using the picture of Modi in Ayushman Bharat healthcare scheme for poor to take credit for a jointly-funded project, she announced that her government has decided to stop paying the state’s share.

“We are withdrawing from the Ayushman Bharat scheme. My state will not contribute 40% of the funds for the scheme,” said Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee at a public meeting in Krishnagar in Nadia district, where she accused the Prime Minister of taking unilateral credit for the project.

“The Centre is printing the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the official communication of the scheme for publicity. The logo has also been designed to resemble the party symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” she alleged in a rhetoric-laden speech of about 30 minutes.