Patna, June 19: Chief minister Nitish Kumar was accorded a grand welcome today at the Patna airport state hangar on his return from China after a week-long goodwill tour. Heavy showers could not dissipate the enthusiasm of his well-wishers.

The list of Nitish’s admirers was long, rather too long. Most of them were in with bouquets. A few lamented the lost opportunity to greet the chief minister with flowers.

Those on waiting included 10 cabinet ministers, deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi, 15 MLAs and 10 MLC’s. Several bureaucrats and top cops, including director-general of police Neel Mani, home secretary Amir Subhani, additional director-general (ADG), vigilance, P.K. Thakur, ADG (headquarters) Rajvardhan Sharma, ADG (law & order) P.N. Rai, inspector-general of Special Branch (security) Rajesh Chandra, deputy inspector-general (central range) Veenit Vinayak, district magistrate Sanjay Kumar Singh, senior superintendent of police Alok Kumar, city superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande and Bihar State Electricity Board member (administration) Rana Awadhesh, were also there.

With so many dignitaries turning up at the airport, the security was very tight. It seemed the entire force of the state was deployed at the hangar.

The flight was delayed by an hour. But Nitish’s well-wishers, particularly the MLAs, MLCs and the party supporters, did not mind waiting for him and getting drenched in rain. Those with flowers took extra care to keep them fresh.

A JD(U) MLA, who forgot to bring anything for Nitish, told another: “I could not bring anything for Nitishji. What to do now? I thought of buying a bouquet but the shops were closed because of rain.”

A BJP MLA standing next to him offered him a rose from his bouquet and said: “Take one flower from my bouquet because something is better than nothing. I know it looks very awkward. I had faced the similar problem during his return from Bhutan.”

One by one, ministers made their way to the state hangar. Greeting each other, they started discussions on what Nitish did in China, what kind of food he had there…

Before Nitish’s flight landed, the security personnel were clueless on managing so many people. Finally, four long queues were made.

As soon as the Air India flight landed, the well-wishers started waving at the flight. Nitish met each one of them personally and shook hands. It took him nearly half-an-hour.