For the second day, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee chose to stay back at the Mongpung bungalow in Siliguri. It has now been declared that he is taking rest on the advice of doctors.

The chief minister had gone to Siliguri on Tuesday to address a rally to support CPM candidates for Siliguri civic polls and attend a meeting of the North Bengal Development Council.

But on Thursday, after his flight from Bagdogra was cancelled because of the strike of Jet Airways pilots, he stayed back.

“He was resting and now he is fine. I have talked to him,” said chief secretary Asok Mohan Chakrabarti at the Writers’ Buildings.

An aide of the chief minister said he would be back on Saturday and join office from Monday.

Bhattacharjee, who was down with viral fever for a couple of days, had been suffering from lung infection too. “Buddhada is not keeping very well so we requested him to take rest for a couple of days,” said Asok Bhattacharya, the Minister for Urban Development, who is from Siliguri.

Worried about the health of the chief minister, Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi called him at Mongpung. “The Governor is in regular touch with the chief minister,” said an official.

According to Subesh Das, the CM’s principal secretary, Bhattacharjee needed the rest badly.

“Let there be no kite-flying about the CM’s health,” said Das, who is travelling with the chief minister.

“After the Lok Sabha poll results were out, he spent his weekends on district tours. Now he is looking much better.”