Badal advised rest; still in hospital

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was advised rest by doctors and kept under observation at the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) here.

All engagements of the chief minister, who was admitted at PGIMER for treatment on Friday following a congestion and fever, for Sunday have been cancelled.

"He is is now swiftly recovering," the chief minister's office said here on Saturday.

Badal will not be receiving Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he arrives here on Sunday. He will also not meet French President Francois Hollande, who is visiting Chandigarh on Sunday.

"The chief minister has been advised by the doctors to recuperate in the hospital and further advised him to take complete bed rest for next couple of days in view of the chest congestion.

"The team of doctors has also decided to keep Badal under observation for next few days. However, all his routine medical tests were normal and was well responding to the treatment being given to him," the chief minister's office said in a statement.

Badal, on Friday evening, was taken to a private hospital in Nawanshahr town in Punjab, 80 km from here, after he felt cold and complained of uneasiness.

Badal, 88, is the oldest chief minister in the country.