(Reuters) - Indian Rural Development Minister Gopinath Munde died on Tuesday after a head-on road collision in the capital, New Delhi, a government colleague told reporters. Munde, appointed just over a week ago to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new government, suffered serious injuries while driving to the capital's airport and died in hospital. "An accident took place earlier in the morning, following which he was taken to the Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Doctors declared him dead at about 8 a.m.," Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters. Munde, 64, died in hospital from cardiac arrest. He was deputy chief minister in the western state of Maharashtra from 1995 to 1999 and elected twice to India's lower house of parliament, in 2009 and 2014. He had served as deputy leader of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in parliament. (Reporting by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
