Mamata Banerjee advises overweight TMC leader to 'stop eating pakoras'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is known to be a fitness freak, on Monday advised a visibly overweight chairman of Jhalda municipality on the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Warning of possible health hazards, Mamata Banerjee 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.

While Agarwal told the chief minister that he is absolutely fit and without illness though he weighs around 125 kgs and consumes lots of 'pakoras' (fritters). He further mentioned that he exercises every day 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," Agarwal said.

He even demonstrated how he performs 'pranayama' and claimed that he did 'Kapalabhati' at least 1,000 times a day. 

Amused by the Jhalda municipality chairman's fitness, Banerjee advised the TMC leader to stop eating pakoras.

Speaking to 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.

Mamata Banerjee's fitness josh

The 67-year-old TMC supremo is often spotted wearing a fitness tracker and 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 her long walkathons during election campaigns are evident to everyone.

Banerjee also wears a digital wristwatch, which sources close to her said is used to keep a regular check on her health like heart rate, blood pressure, and other parameters.

One such incident is when the blood pressures of both the BJP and the Congress were shooting up with numbers of Maharashtra and Haryana election results in 2019, while the Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was keeping her parameters under check jogging along with her security guard on the quaint hills of Darjeeling.

(With PTI inputs)

(Image: PTI)