Chief minister Raghu-bar Das, MPs and ministers in the state government, in addition to 85 office-bearers of the BJP, are scheduled to attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony in New Delhi on Thursday,

“This morning, I got a call from the BJP’s central headquarters and I was told that Modi solicits my gracious presence during oath taking ceremony. Being an ordinary party worker I had not expected this,” said an excited Manoj Mishra, Ranchi district unit president, sounding as if it was he who was being sworn in as a minister.

Chairpersons and vice chairpersons of various boards and corporations have also been invited to attend the ceremony scheduled to be held at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 7pm.

State BJP vice president and Rajya Sabha MP Samir Oraon has been asked to make arrangements for the visitors from Jharkhand.

“Broadly, state BJP organisational general secretary, president, all seven vice-presidents, all three general secretaries, all seven spokespersons and office in-charges have been invited as guests,” said a senior party leader.

Also, all 25 district presidents, those in-charge of the 14 Lok Sabha seats of Jharkhand, all 14 Lok Sabha vistarak (a full time RSS leader appointed in each constituency) have been invited.

The CM is expected to take an afternoon flight to Delhi on Thursday, but many leaders had already reached by Wednesday.

“The moment I got information, I booked my flight and reached Delhi today (Wednesday) along with party colleagues Pradeep Verma, Aditya Sahu, Priya Singh and Subodh Singh,” said Deepak Prakash, BJP general secretary.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Poddar will board a flight from Bangalore.

“In 2014, I had watched the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi on television. This time, I will be a part of the moment. I am very excited to meet new faces and probable ministers,” he said.

State BJP spokesperson Pratul Nath Shahdeo, along with Mishra, is set to board a flight on Thursday.

“I would like to click pictures on my mobile. Be it in defeat or victory, the entire party stands together. This invitation is a great honour for us. Prime Minister Modi and party president Amit Shah started their careers as ordinary party workers. It is natural that leaders like them always take care of ordinary party workers,” he said.