The excitement of a trust vote debate in the Lok Sabha on Monday saw President Pratibha Patil glued to a television set watching the tense proceedings after giving a skip to all internal briefings.

The constitutional authority who will assume centre stage in the event of a threat to the UPA government watched the Lok Sabha proceedings telecast by Doordarshan from 1100 hours when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh tabled the confidence motion before a jam-packed House.

After a brief round of already scheduled meetings, the 73-year-old President went to her family quarters and resumed watching the proceedings.