There were some awkward moments before the departure of President Pratibha Patil from Beijing to the central Chinese city of Luoyang on Saturday when a member of her entourage, Rashtriya Janata Dal Member of Parliament Raghuvansh Prasad, did not turn up at the airport on time, making her wait for nearly 20 minutes.
Though the scheduled departure was slated for 9 am local time, the President arrived at the airport at 8.50 am for the last farewell formalities. However, even after she boarded the plane, it could not take off as Prasad, former minister for rural development, had not arrived from his hotel.
"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," said Arachana Dutta, a spokesperson for the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Patil had to wait for nearly 20 minutes before her plane could depart for Luoyang even as there were nearly eight other flights waiting for the VVIP plane to take off.
According to protocol, the President is the last one to board a flight.
Later, when asked at Luoyang as to why he got delayed in reaching Beijing airport, Prasad said he found it difficult to operate the lift of the hotel he was staying in.
The RJD MP said he could not figure out how to operate the lift using the keys of his room.
Patil, who is in China on a six-day visit, was visiting Loyang to inaugurate the first Indian-styled Buddhist temple at the famous White Horse temple complex there.
Among the members of her delegation are Minister of State for Food Processing Subodh Kant Sahay and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Patil is the first Indian head of State to visit China in a decade.
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