Mamata asks TMC leader to ditch pakoras, lose weight

PTI, May 31, 2022, 9:19 AM IST

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is known to be a fitness enthusiast, was on Monday seen advising a visibly overweight chairman of Jhalda municipality on how to ger rid of his belly bulge.

She even warned the TMC leader of possible health hazards, including heart blocks and instructed him on the correct way to do ‘pranayama’ (breathing exercises).

”Why do you have such a belly bulge? And the way it’s growing you will definitely have a (heart) blockage,” she told Suresh Kumar Agarwal during an administrative review meeting here.

A bashful Agarwal told the chief minister that though he weighs around 125 kg and consumes lots of ‘pakoras’ (fritters), he is absolutely fit and without illness. He also said that he exercises everyday for nearly one-and-half hours.

”Didi, I exercise for nearly one and half hours everyday … But I like to have pakoras. I am absolutely okay, am non-dabetic, have no blood pressure problems and do not need to consume any medicine,” he said.

The Jhalda municipality chairman even demonstrated before Banerjee how he performs ‘pranayama’ and claimed that he did ‘Kapalabhati’ at least 1,000 times a day.

Banerjee, who wore an amused expression, then advised the TMC leader to stop eating pakoras.

When contacted by PTI, 62-year-old Agarwal said that he will ”definitely try” to follow her advice.

The chief minister told the meeting about the plan for building a film city at Purulia, which is surrounded by thick woods.

The 67-year-old TMC supremo is often captured on camera going for brisk morning walks whenever she is on administrative tours to the districts.

She is known to walk several miles every day on her treadmill and is seen covering many kilometres on foot during election campaigns.

Banerjee also wears a digital wrist watch, which sources close to her said is used to keep track of how many steps she walks a day besides monitoring her heart rate, blood pressure and other parameters.