Patna: Most BJP Union ministers from Bihar chose to be in Patna instead of New Delhi on Thursday to greet BJP national president Amit Shah at the Patna airport.

Shah arrived from Ranchi by a special flight on Thursday morning accompanied by Union minister of law and justice and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad. He was received from near the aircraft by deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi and state BJP president Nityanand Rai before being escorted 10m away to meet party MLAs and ministers, waiting with roses.

Union ministers Ram Kripal Yadav, Giriraj Singh and Ashwani Choubey joined party MLAs and ministers in greeting Shah with flowers. Some 170 key BJP dignitaries were at the airport, among them state health minister Mangal Pandey, road construction minister Nand Kishore Yadav, labour minister Vijay Kumar Sinha, agriculture minister Prem Kumar and BJP's Bihar in-charge Bhupender Yadav.

Thousands had begun gathering around Patna airport hours before BJP chief Amit Shah's arrival.

Only two BJP Union ministers - Radhamohan Singh and R.K. Singh - were not to be seen at the airport.

But they were there at the Ashoka International Convention Centre - venue of the BJP meeting.

Shah arrived in Bihar at a time when the political scene is abuzz with rumours over seat-sharing ahead of the 2019 national polls.

This is Shah's first visit since the JDU first formed a Grand Alliance government with the Congress and the RJD in 2015 before breaking away from it to return to the NDA fold in 2017.

Political experts say it would be wrong to say that Shah was in the state to only attend meetings with party workers.

"He might have come for shakti pradarshan, meaning to give a signal on the strength of the party in Bihar. It basically implies an effort to signal a one-man show through a duo of the BJP and the JDU in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections," said a political analyst.