“This is bound to happen when we have people who read speeches rather then deliver them,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said here. Sitharaman added that Krishna's gaffe has embarrassed India at an international forum.
"Today, the level of incompetence has reached its optimum," she said Krishna read out Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado's speech for full three minutes at a debate Friday on security and development before India's Permanent Representative to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri pointed out the error.
The initial part of the Portuguese minister's speech related to general issues about the UN, development and security.
Published 12 February 2011, 15:43 IST