Patna: BJP leaders and cadres gave party national president Amit Shah a rousing welcome on his day-long visit to Patna on Thursday.

Arriving in Patna after a gap of nearly 17 months, Shah touched down from Ranchi around 10am. Senior leaders were allowed into the state hangar at the airport to welcome him. They and party workers were at the airport since 9am.

From the airport, Shah left in an SUV for the state guest house with BJP state chief Nityanand Rai and BJP MLC Sanjay Mayukh. BJP workers had lined up on both sides of the route to shower petals on the SUV. Huge hoardings, banners and posters showing photographs of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Shah, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and state and central BJP leaders greeted the party president on the route.

Near the LJP party office, around two dozen people were playing the ranbheri (a musical instrument) to welcome Shah. Surendra Kumar, a BJP leader from Hajipur, had brought a musician from his constituency. "Theinstrument is generally played during weddings and cultural functions. We decided to play it to welcome Shah, as he is going to kick-start the battle for 2019."

Shah reached the state guesthouse at 10.20am and had breakfast with the chief minister. After an hour, Nitish was the first guest to leave the guest house.

Around 11.45am, Shah left for Samrat Ashoka Convention Hall in an SUV along with Sushil Modi and Nityanand Rai. The other leaders followed them.

On the route, the BJP's cultural wing had erected five stages to welcome Shah. Members of the BJP's cultural wing were performing cultural programmes and folk songs. After addressing party workers and leaders at Samrat Ashoka Convention hall, around 4pm, Shah left for the BJP office where he inaugurated a library.

"The library, named after Nanaji Deshmukh, consists of books on the Jan Sangh, BJP leaders and party policies written by different authors," state BJP media in-charge Pankaj Singh said. "There are also books on constitution and literature written by authors who are influenced by rightist ideology." Deshmukh was a veteran leader of both the Jan Sangh and the BJP. He was an active participant of the Bhoodan movement launched by Acharya Vinoba Bhave and also extended support to Jayaprakash Narayan's call for total revolution.