Nitin Gadkari faints in campaign meeting

Mumbai: Union minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Nitin Gadkari fainted on stage Saturday evening during an election rally near Shirdi in Maharashtra.

The minister, who was in the holy town to campaign for Shiv Sena candidate Sadashiv Lokhande, had to curtail his speech midway and leave the venue.

This was the second time in past five months that Mr Gadkari, 61, suffered health issues in public.

Mr Gadkari was feeling unwell and was exhausted soon after he started his speech. He had cut his speech short and while walking back to his seat, he fainted.

Mr Gadkari’s security guard, BJP’s Ahmednagar candidate Sujay Vikhe-Patil, state minister Ram Shinde immediately rushed to help him. Within a few minutes he recovered and waved at the crowd to indicate that he was fine.