Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, in an impromptu act, held the gathering spellbound by singing "Chhalla" – a popular Punjabi folk song - at the 'At Home' function organised at Punjab Raj Bhawan on the occasion of R-Day here on Friday evening.
This happened when Mann got up and reached the dais while the musical renditions of patriotic songs by the artistes of the North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) were on. Prior to singing, he said in Punjabi - "kalakaar haan, stage dekh ke rukeya nahin janda" meaning that he too was an artiste, therefore could not stop after seeing the cultural stage. Mann was a well-known comic actor, satirist and singer before his political stint.
He sang several stanzas of ``Chhalla’’ folk song – one of the popular songs sung by Gurdas Maan, on the occasion. He stopped to inform the gathering that he had asked Gurdas Maan to change one particular line of the song – from - Chhalla nau, nau kheve, puttar mithde meve – to - Chhalla nau, nau kheve, bachche mithde meve – which the latter had done.
After concluding his singing, Mann thanked the governor Banwarilal Purohit saying he was his custodian too. Notably, the gesture of the chief minister was also being seen as an act to break the ice with the governor with whom he had multiple run-ins on several issues, last year.
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It may be recalled that such was the sour relationship between the two that Mann had skipped the ``At Home’’ programmes of the Raj Bhawan on the occasion of Republic Dal and the Independence Day last year.
Expecting a baby in March: CM
Earlier in the day, while addressing the gathering on the occasion of Republic Day in Ludhiana, Mann had also announced that he and his wife, Dr Gurpreet Kaur, were expecting a baby in March.
Exhorting people against the pre-natal sex determination test, the chief minister said that his wife was seven months pregnant and he and his wife had decided not to discover the gender. ``Let us never discriminate between boys and girls and instead wish for a healthy baby’’, he said.
