Late arrival forces Rajnath to cut short speech

BJP President Rajnath Singh had only four minutes to woo voters at an election rally held at a ground today here in Rampurhat.
The BJP veteran, who travelled from Purnia in a helicopter, was around two-and-half hours late to reach the venue at 1.25pm much to dampen the spirit of the huge gathering.
And with the administration permitting the use of sound boxes till 1.30pm, because of examinations scheduled at educational institutions around the rally ground, Singh had to cut short his speech, party sources said.
Singh did not want to violate the order and delivered a very brief speech, mainly asking voters to vote for party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, within the allowed time, they said.

It was learnt that according to the early itinerary, Singh was scheduled to arrive from Panagarh by a chartered flight and from there he would travel to Rampurhat by car, sources said.
But following the Air Traffic Control's last-minute denial of clearance to Singh's plane in Panagarh last night, the itinerary was reorganised and today the BJP leader landed in Purnia in a chartered flight from Delhi, they said.

"Time was wasted in Purnia to get all the paperworks done and this delayed Singh's journey to Rampurhat," one BJP leader said.
Singh's scheduled arrival in Rampurhat was 11am but he reached there in a helicopter at 1.25pm.

Incidentally, the leader had to wait for few more hours even after the rally was over in Rampurhat following the late arrival of the vehicle carrying fuel for his copter.