New Delhi: Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on February 17 was in pain and he staggered a little, forcing him to abruptly stop reading out the Hindi version of the President's address to a joint sitting of Parliament.

As the 80-year-old Kalam neared the end of the speech during the customary address that took nearly 75 minutes, a security staff saw Shekhawat in discomfort and helped him sit in a chair in the podium of Parliament's Central Hall.

President A P J Abdul Kalam, who had read out his address in English first, brought the ceremony to a close saying the speech in Hindi version should be taken as read.

However, the MPs gathered in the high-domed hall gave a thunderous ovation when the Vice President got up and stood through the National Anthem that was played.

As Union Minister and physician C P Thakur, Parliamentary Affairs and Health Minister Sushma Swaraj and a Parliament doctor attended on Shekhawat in the Central Hall, President A P J Abdul Kalam said the speech should be taken as read.

Later, Swaraj told reporters that the Vice President suffered a sudden cramp in his leg. He was alright and has gone home to take rest, she said.

He was then taken out of the Central Hall in a wheel chair to his office in the Parliament House where he was given medical attention. However, he refused to go in a wheelchair towards his car waiting to take him home and insisted on walking.

The development prompted Swaraj to suggest that an all-party meeting be called to do away with the practice of the Hindi translation of the President's address being read out and instead there be simultaneous interpretation.

K L Kochhar, Press Advisor to the Vice President, told reporters that he was "perfectly fine". The Vice President's personal physician R S Rathore did a check-up and found his pulse rate and blood pressure to be normal.

"It's a simple case of a cramp in the right leg," he said.

PTI