Chief minister Nitish Kumar is unwell. As a result, a state cabinet meeting had to be cancelled for the second successive day.

'We got a call from the chief minister's office today after which the cabinet meet was cancelled. All ministers have been informed,' a senior official told The Telegraph on Wednesday. The official did not wish to be named, as he is not authorised to speak to newspersons.

The cabinet meeting was earlier scheduled for Tuesday but was deferred to Wednesday because of Nitish's health.

Sources in the chief minister's office said Nitish was suffering from throat infection and also showing symptoms of flu. 'He is sneezing a lot, and has fever coupled with throat infection. Doctors have advised him complete bed rest,' a source at Nitish's residence said.

Nitish has not attended state legislature proceedings in the past two days. He also cancelled his presence at a programme organised today by a social organisation to mark the 41st anniversary of the launch of Jayaprakash Narayan's Sampoorna Kranti (Total Revolution) Movement in Bihar. Nitish is a product of the JP movement.

'Nitish ji is very particular about attending legislature sessions. He rarely misses even a single day's proceedings. As he is down with flu, he has not been able to attend the session since Tuesday,' a cabinet colleague of the chief minister said on condition of anonymity.

Sources said Nitish would have been just as enthusiastic to attend the function in memory of the JP movement as he identifies himself with it.

According to official records, March 18, 1974, is considered the day socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan launched his movement against then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. The movement culminated on March 21, 1977, when Morarji Desai formed the Janata Party government at the Centre. The Bihar government treats these dates as the cut-off to identify those who took part in the movement.

Doctors treating Nitish - who resides at 7 Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to him after he vacated the chief minister's official residence at 1 Aney Marg for Jitan Ram Manjhi last May - were unavailable for comment.

A city-based physician, Diwakar Tejaswi, said that going by the symptoms it was very likely the chief minister had been prescribed antibiotics and anti-allergic drugs. 'Antipyretic drugs too are given to keep the fever under control,' he said.

Nitish has been advised bed rest, Tejaswi said, as a precautionary measure as those suffering from flu are susceptible to secondary infections. Rest helps guard the patient from such vulnerability.

On the number of days one takes to recover from such an ailment, Tejaswi said: 'It takes three to seven days generally and varies from patient to patient.'