Nitin Gadkari was flying to the national capital to attend the BJP's parliamentary board meeting

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari could not land in Delhi because of bad weather as his plane was diverted to Lucknow on Thursday, his office said. He was flying to the national capital to attend the party meeting after its stupendous victory in Lok Sabha elections.

The special flight is now en route to Lucknow and he is likely to return to Delhi whenever Airport Traffic Controller (ATC) gives clearance, the office said.

The BJP had called parliamentary board meeting after trends showed it storming back to power with an absolute majority on its own.

The aircraft was priority No.1 for landing when it was approaching Delhi from Nagpur, sources said.

The pilot attempted landing but couldn't land due to strong transverse winds, and waited for some more time before deciding to divert to Lucknow, they said.

Throughout this period, Mr Gadkari's aircraft was priority No.1 for landing and no other aircraft landed during this time.