Kolkata, May 27 -- West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday said that around 3 million beneficiaries of the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme under the previous All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) government were "fake".

"We had initially thought the list of beneficiaries under the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme was verified. But we received plenty of allegations that individuals whose names have been permanently deleted from the electoral roll and have neither applied for CAA [Citizenship Amendment Act] nor appealed before the Supreme Court-mandated appellate tribunals were receiving assistance under the scheme. The number is approximately three million," Adhikari said.

Adhikari on Wednesday also launched forms for the Annapurna Yojana, ...