The Congress tricolour fell off the flagpole on Tuesday morning as party president Sonia Gandhi tried to unfurl it to mark the party's 137th foundation day at the AICC headquarters here.

However, Gandhi along with party treasurer Pawan Bansal and All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K C Venugopal quickly held the party tricolour in their hands and displayed it briefly.

She then unfurled the tricolour after a Congress worker had strung the flag from the pole.

Senior Congress leaders Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, A K Antony, Mallikarjun Kharge were among those present at the party headquarters.

The Congress president was visibly upset at the faux pas and was seen enquiring a party worker conducting the proceedings whether the flag was firmly in place when she came to unfurl it for the second time.

A senior leader said the party leadership expressed displeasure at the turn of events and asked those in charge of organising the function to be more careful in the future.

Incidentally, Congress managers had put up a higher steel flagpole instead of a shorter one usually seen at the party headquarters.