“The guests from Delhi are slated to land in Ranchi by a chartered aircraft around 12.30 pm. They will leave soon after the function, which is expected to start at 2 pm. Nitish Kumar will come by the regular flight around the same time and return by train,” an official said. “The programme is still being finalised and last-minute changes cannot be ruled out.”

Senior BJP leaders went into a huddle in the capital today to chalk out a plan to make their presence felt at the “NDA rally” at Morahbadi on November 15. “We started late but we will be pressing a large number of buses into service to ferry the rallyists from different corners of the Jharkhand. They will also come by trains,” a BJP leader said. But the absence of a “centralised command structure” and “intra-party squabbles” in the NDA’s non-BJP constituents, the Samata Party and the Janata Dal (United), has become a hindrance in garnering support for the rally. “Senior leaders will be here, but the attendance is likely to be marginal,” sources said.