Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday hailed the first decisions of the Suvendu Adhikari government in Bengal, asserting that the welfare of the people here was "supreme".

Citing a post by the chief minister on X, the Prime Minister issued a statement Tuesday morning.

"The welfare of my sisters and brothers of West Bengal is supreme!" wrote Modi.

"I’m very happy that the people of the state will have access to Ayushman Bharat, the world’s largest healthcare scheme that ensures top-quality and affordable healthcare," he added.

"At the same time, the double-engine Government will ensure seamless delivery of key Central schemes."

The post by Adhikari, which Modi cited, summed up Day One of his government's work at Nabanna, the state secretariat.

The implementation of the central health insurance scheme in Bengal was a major bone of contention between Modi and former chief minister Mamata Banerjee. She resisted its implementation as the state already had Swasthya Sathi (which predates the central scheme by two years).

Conceived by Mamata, Swasthya Sathi was Bengal's own flagship, ₹5 lakh, cashless-paperless health insurance scheme implemented universally from the time when Adhikari was still in the Trinamool Congress.

Pro-tem Speaker

Later on Tuesday, former Trinamool veteran Tapas Roy, now the BJP's Maniktala MLA, took the oath as the pro-tem Speaker of the Assembly.

He was administered the oath by governor R.N. Ravi. Adhikari attended the ceremony at Lok Bhavan.