West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that CMs had been reduced to being puppets during meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Speaking after attending the PM’s meet on COVID-19 with district officials from 10 states where respective chief ministers were also present, Mamata said the CMs are not even allowed to speak during COVID-19 meeting with the PM.

“If the states were not allowed to speak, then why were they called? All the chief ministers must protest for not being allowed to speak,” the West Bengal CM said.

She further questioned the PM’s claim during the meeting on the reducing national caseload, and asked why so many deaths were occurring if that was the case?

The PM's COVID meeting with CMs turned out to be a super flop and insulting, she added.

During the meeting, the PM noted that field officials’ experiences and feedback help in formulating effective and practical policies to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Coronavirus has made your work more demanding and challenging. In the midst of new challenges, we need new strategies and solutions. It becomes important to use local experiences and we need to work together as a country. Your work in the field, your experiences, and your feedbacks help in making practical and effective policies. The vaccination drive is also being taken forward by incorporating suggestions from states and many stakeholders at every level," he told the district officials.

"These viruses specialize in mutations, formatting, so our methods and strategies should also be dynamic," he added.

Importantly, during the meeting, the PM stressed on the need to reduce vaccine wastage.

"Wastage of a single vaccine means not being able to give the necessary protection to one life. It is therefore important to prevent vaccine waste," he advised.