NEW DELHI — India's Rural Affairs Minister Gopinath Munde has died in a car accident in New Delhi.
Munde was on the way to the airport Tuesday when his car was hit by another vehicle. He died a short while later in hospital.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi says his death is a major loss for the nation and the government. Munde was appointed minister to the Cabinet last week.
Munde was deputy chief minister in the western state of Maharashtra in the mid-1990s, and was elected to the lower house of Parliament in 2009 and 2014.
India has the world's deadliest roads, with more than 110,000 people killed every year in road accidents.