RJD MP Raghuvansh Prasad did not turn up at Beijing airport on time for President Pratibha Patil’s flight to the Chinese city of Luoyang on Saturday. The President had to wait nearly 20 minutes after boarding the chartered aircraft.
Though departure was scheduled for 9 am local time, the President arrived at 8.50 am for the farewell formalities. However, even after she boarded, the plane could not take off as Mr Prasad had not arrived. According to protocol, the President boards last.
Asked at Luoyang about the delay, Mr Prasad said he could not figure out how to operate the hotel lift using his room keys and that he was delayed by just a matter of minutes. “Though one of the delegation members got delayed, there was no impact on the programme schedule and it did not cause any embarrassment to us,” Rashtrapati Bhavan said. —PTI