Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari fainted due to scorching heat while addressing an election rally in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal on Wednesday.
The Union Minister and senior BJP leader was campaigning at Pusad which comes under the Yavatmal-Washim Lok Sabha constituency. The security personnel accompanying him carried him off-stage as soon as he fainted. The minister, however, recovered after a few minutes and came back on the stage to complete his speech.
“Felt uneasy due to heat at a rally at Pusad, Maharashtra. But now I am completely alright and on my way to Warud to take part in the next rally,” the 66-year-old leader said in a post on X shortly after the incident.
In a video doing rounds on social media, the union minister can be seen to be dizzy and unconscious as he was being carried away by the people on stage. Some of the BJP leaders can also be heard calling for doctors.
Gadkari, who fought the elections in the first phase of voting as BJP’s candidate from Nagpur Lok Sabha seat, was campaigning for Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena leader Rajashree Patil in Yavatmal’s Pusad. Addressing the rally, the union minister said, “I am confident that the people of Yavatmal district, which has a constant tendency towards development, will give victory to the BJP-Maha alliance, which believes in all-round development.”
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wished him a speedy recovery. “Pray for quick and complete recovery of senior Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari. Electioneering in the scorching heat of this cruel summer is indeed unbearable. Today is 24 April, and, can you imagine, our 7-phase elections will continue till 1st,” she wrote.
Earlier on December 7, 2018, Gadkari fainted during a public event in Maharashtra because of “suffocation” from convocation robes, in his own words. He was at the convocation of an agricultural university in Ahmednagar district, on his feet for the national anthem, when he fainted on stage.
