THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The inaugural function of the Indian History Congress (IHC), attended by President Pranab Mukherjee, witnessed a goof-up after the organisers asked Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala to return to his seat amidst his speech.
The blunder was caused by the fact that the compere, a senior IHC functionary, had cleanly forgotten to announce the welcome address at the start of the function. Instead, as soon as the President arrived on the dais, it was announced that he would be presented mementos by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala University Vice Chancellor. After that, the compere invited Chennithala to speak as scheduled.
Chennithala was almost half-way into his brief speech when the compere approached him and requested him to return to his seat. Chennithala did so with a laugh.
He was asked to resume after P K Radhakrishnan, Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University - the hosts of the event - delivered the welcome address. Chennithala ‘re-delivered’ his speech commenting that he was honoured to have been given a second chance. Kerala University officials denied there were any protocol lapses, but the blooper was caused by a ‘personal lapse.’