PM Narendra Modi cannot speak proper English, says Mamata Banerjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi can't speak a line in English properly and needs constant help from a teleprompter, Mamata Banerjee says.

"Modi gives a lot of speeches but he cannot speak a line in English properly. That's why he needs to constantly look at the teleprompter while speaking English," Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister of West Bengal, said on Thursday, according to a Bengali news website.

"The entire media knows of this. So do other people," Mamata Banerjee said. "He looks at the screen, reads what he has to say in English and then speaks as if he's fluent in the language."

"But we do not have to do all this."

Mamata Banerjee's All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) is one of the Narendra Modi government's most vocal critics.

She announced on Thursday that West Bengal was pulling out of Ayushman Bharat -- a health programme launched last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which aims to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families.

Mamata Banerjee accused the Centre of "playing dirty politics" under the garb of the scheme.