Chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday honoured the promise he made to eight-year-old Kumar Raj Chourasia and invited him and his father to his 7 Circular Road residence.

In reaction to the report published in the Monday's edition of The Telegraph on how Shailendra Kumar Chourasia, the owner of a betel leaf shop in Ara, and his son were eagerly waiting for a call from the chief minister for the past 17 days, Shailendra finally got the call on Tuesday morning.

"Like normal days, I was going to my betel leaf shop around 9am, when I got a call from the chief minister's official residence. The caller told me that chief minister Nitish Kumar had invited my son and me to his residence by afternoon. It was something like a dream come true. I shared the news with my son, who was equally excited," said Shailendra.

He boarded a Ara-Patna local train, along with son Kumar Raj and daughter Lovely, at 10am. At 11am, he got a call from Bhojpur district magistrate (DM) Pankaj Kumar Pal, enquiring his whereabouts.

"DM sir asked my location to which I replied that we had already boarded the train. He said he was supposed to send me a car to take me to the chief minister's residence," said Shailendra.

Raj recently impressed Nitish with his oratorical skills and had left the audience surprised with an extempore speech for 10 minutes.

After reaching Patna at 1pm, Shailendra took his children to a relative's house in Rajabazaar. Around 3pm, an SUV was sent which took them to 7 Circular Road at 3.30pm. Raj sported a chequered half shirt and blue jeans. Bhojpur DM Pankaj Kumar Pal also reached the venue at the same time.

Nitish met Shailendra and his kids, praised Raj's talent and gave few instructions to the Bhojpur DM. The meeting lasted an hour during which the children were offered sweets and biscuits.

After meeting Nitish, Shailendra told The Telegraph : "I am very happy. My son is happier. He had dreamt to meet the chief minister one on one. He was very kind to us and asked me to take special care of my son and offered all possible help for Raj's good education."

Shailendra said: "Nitish ji asked the DM to open a bank account in the name of my son in which he would send money from his salary for Raj's education. My son suffers from Hepatitis B. So the chief minister asked the DM to provide him the best medical treatment. He also instructed the DM to help me if I wanted to get my children admitted to any private school in Bhojpur."

Raj gushed: "Today (Tuesday) is the happiest day of my life as a chief minister personally invited me to his residence. I do not have words to express my happiness."

Later, the chief minister ensured that the family returned to their Ara home safely in an SUV.