CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is indisposed. He was to accompany Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on a tour of flood-affected Sultanpur Lodhi in Kapurthala district on Thursday. However, he cancelled his visit.
Kejriwal called on Mann at the chief minister's official residence in Chandigarh and inquired about his health. The meeting lasted for about half an hour.
It is learnt that the doctors attending to Mann had advised him complete bed rest.
Later, Kejriwal, accompanied by senior AAP leaders including party president Aman Arora visited the flood-affected areas and reviewed the ongoing rescue and rehabilitation works.
Kejriwal was to visit Patiala district as well, but that leg of the tour was cancelled at the last minute as the flood situation there has turned grim with the overflowing Ghaggar breaching its embankment of the Bhakra main canal (Narwana branch) near Sarala village in Ghanaur.
On Tuesday, Mann had toured flood-affected areas in Ferozepur district and met the people. However, he fell ill on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Punjab agriculture minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian and MLA Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal today met Union Agricuture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Amritsar and submitted a memorandum, seeking Rs 2,000 crore as financial assistance in the first phase for the losses caused by floods in the Ajnala assembly constituency. The AAP Government has demanded to release Rs 60,000 crore `pending’ dues of the state from the Centre.