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Updated: Jan 26, 2019 17:37 IST

Reading out from a written speech at the 70th Republic Day function in Gwalior turned out to be an awkward moment for Madhya Pradesh women and child development minister Imarti Devi, who struggled with the script and fumbled before she passed the baton to the district collector Bharat Yadav, who finished the speech.

A video of the event, put out by news agency ANI, showed her struggling with the speech. Later, ANI quoted her as saying, “I was sick for the past two days, you can ask the doctor. But it is okay. The collector read it (the speech) properly.”

Elected from Dabra assembly constituency, Congress leader Imarti Devi is a third-time MLA in the Madhya Pradesh assembly. Imarti Devi has risen through ranks in the Madhya Pradesh Congress having been a part of the Youth Congress in the late 1990s. Imarti Devi was first elected to the Madhya Pradesh assembly in 2008.