Archit Watts
Tribune News Service
Malout, June 12
The prevailing hot weather has forced former Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who never skipped public meetings while being present in his Lambi Assembly constituency, to change his schedule as well.
The elderly Badal, who is now 90, has now limited his public meeting programmes in other villages from 9 am to 10 am. For instance, Badal today visited just the Adhnian village in his constituency.
Sources close to Badal said the doctors had advised him to stay indoors during this hot weather. “However, Badal sahib prefers to meet people and is still visiting the villages to express grief over the deaths that have taken place in his constituency,” the sources said.
They further informed that the former CM, during his stay at his residence in Badal village, mostly stays inside and meets people there at the camp office in the morning and evening. “Otherwise, he is regular in his schedule and does exercise in the morning and holds prayers both in the morning and evening,” said the sources.
It may be mentioned that in the past, Badal used to hold his public meetings from 8 am to 5 pm and that too with just a lunch break of an hour. Further, during the election days, he campaigns non-stop from 8 am to 8 pm.
Recently, when the AAP leaders from Lambi had gone to hand him over a bottle of contaminated water, he had sent a representative at the main entrance of his residence to meet the delegation on his behalf, citing his poor health.