Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari collapsed while speaking at an election rally in Maharashtra’s Yavatmal on Wednesday afternoon. Fortunately, the senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader received prompt treatment and was able, after a brief pause, to get back up on stage and continue his speech.

A disturbing video of the incident – which was unfortunately streamed live on X (formerly Twitter), including by his own account – showed Nitin Gadkari being carried away by those on stage, many of whom rushed to form a shield around the BJP leader to give him, and those treating him, some privacy.

Nitin Gadkari took to X and informed that he felt uncomfortable due to the heat during the rally in Pusad, Maharashtra. But now he is completely healthy and is leaving for Varud to attend the next meeting. He thanked his supporters and well wishers for their love and good wishes.

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, he was 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.

Gadkari posted on X that as the nation moves towards a developed India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, significant work has been done in the last 10 years in the areas of roads and highways as well as health, education and other sectors across the country. He said many schemes of the central government were successfully extended to the rural areas. Due to this, along with the city, the people of the rural areas are also able to benefit from many important facilities.

The Yavatmal constituency along with Akola, Buldhana, Amravati, Hingoli, Wardha, Parbhani and Nanded in Maharashtra are scheduled to vote in the second phase of the Lok Sabha election on April 26.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on Congress after Sam Pitroda advocated for a US-style inheritance tax amid the ongoing debate over wealth redistribution. The comments have further fuelled an already-raging controversy over Rahul Gandhi’s promise to conduct a wealth survey if the Congress won the Lok Sabha election.

PM Modi was speaking at a public meeting in Chhattisgarh’s Surguja, where he alleged that the Congress wants to fill its own coffers by imposing ever higher taxes and not allowing people to pass on their hard-earned wealth to their children.

The Prime minister said the advisor (Sam Pitroda) of the prince and the royal family had said some time ago that more taxes should be imposed on the middle class.  He said the Congress party says that it will impose an inheritance tax, and it will also impose tax on the inheritance received from parents. PM Modi added the children will not get the wealth that their parents accumulate through their hard work, rather the Congress party will snatch it away from them.

PM Modi said Pitroda’s remarks have exposed the dangerous intentions of the Congress.  He took a veiled jibe at the Congress and said the party has only one mantra – to loot people zindagi ke sath bhi, zindagi ke baad bhi (in life and even after death).

 The prime minister did not take any names and targeted the Gandhi family and said, those people who considered the entire Congress party as their ancestral property and handed it over to their children, now do not want Indians to pass on their property to their younger generations.

Indian Overseas Congress chairman Sam Pitroda while talking to the media backed his party’s stand on redistribution of wealth and called for a policy for the same while citing the concept of inheritance tax prevailing in some American states.

Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday published a fresh bigger apology in leading newspapers for misleading advertisements of Patanjali’s medicinal products. This time, the apology was bigger in size after the Supreme Court pulled up Patanjali’s Ramdev and Balkrishna for not prominently displaying it earlier.

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India. The apology said that they earnestly apologise for the mistake made in publishing their advertisements and it is their whole-hearted commitment that such mistakes will not be made again in the future.

During a hearing of the contempt proceedings related to the misleading ads case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked Ramdev and Balkrishna if the size of the apology published in newspapers by Patanjali was similar to full-page advertisements for its products.

Ramdev and Balkrishna had told the Supreme Court Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah that they issued unqualified public apology in as many as 67 newspapers over the issue of misleading ads and they were willing to publish additional apologies for expressing their mistake. The duo said that the cost of the advertisements is Rs 10 lakh.

The Supreme Court bench asked why the apology had been published after one week, just ahead of the case hearing. Justice Kohli also asked if the size of the apology published was the same size as their advertisements? The court also ordered Patanjali to collate the ads and submit them before the Supreme Court bench.

The bench further added that the size of the apologies should not be enlarged and should be supplied to them.  The Supreme Court bench wanted to see the actual size. The bench added that they want to see that when they issue an ad it does not mean they have to see it by a microscope.