Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi during the foundation-laying ceremony of Statue of Unity of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Bharuch on Thursday
When
Narendra Modi arrives in Patna this evening, the security organised for him will be unprecedented in the 64-year-old's political career, and similar to what is arranged for the Prime Minister.
On Sunday, Mr Modi addressed a massive rally in Patna after a series of bombs exploded in and around the venue, killing seven people and injuring nearly 80. The BJP's candidate for prime minister was unharmed; tomorrow, he will visit the families of those who died.
He will spend the night at a heavily-guarded government guest house.
Mr Modi, who is serving his fourth term as chief minister of Gujarat, is protected by Black Cat commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG). The union government, earlier this week, rejected his party's request for Mr Modi to be guarded by the Special Protection Group or SPG, which is entrusted with VVIPs like the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her children.
Instead, the union government has upgraded his security considerably by ensuring that when Mr Modi visits a state, the local police and government will coordinate closely with the Intelligence Bureau to arrange the route his convoy will take and sanitise the venues of his meetings. Every minute of Mr Modi's itinerary will be documented in writing by the police of the state that's hosting him and will be monitored by officials from the state government and different agencies including the Gujarat government and the Intelligence Bureau.
This detailed preparation is referred to as the Advance Security Liaison (ASL). Other than VVIPs like the Prime Minister, it has so far been offered only to senior BJP leader LK Advani, who is considered a high-risk target by intelligence agencies because of his image as a right-wing hardliner.
The Bihar police and government, headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, have been attacked by the BJP for major security lapses for Mr Modi's rally last weekend. They have denied the charges of "gross criminal negligence."