Former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Modi passes away at 72

In April, Modi had announced that he had been suffering from cancer and had requested the party to relieve him of assignments related to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

He had said in a post in Hindi on social media platform X: “I have been battling with cancer for the last six months. I feel that now the time has come to make it public. I would not be able to do my work during the Lok Sabha polls. I have shared this with the PM. My gratitude to the country, Bihar and my party.”

Former Bihar CM Jitan Ram Manjhi condoled Modi’s demise and wrote on social media platform X: “Heartfelt tribute to our dear friend, former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and former Rajya Sabha MP Shri Sushil Kumar Modi ji on his demise.”

Modi had served as Bihar Deputy Chief Minister for over 11 years across two stints — the first from November 2005 to June 2013, and then from July 2017 to December 2020 — stitching up a formidable combination with Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of the JD(U).

In his three-decade career, he was also an MLA, an MLC, a member of the Lok Sabha, and a Rajya Sabha MP. He emerged from the 1974 JP Movement, along with the likes of Lalu and Nitish, and was known to be the most influential BJP leader since Bihar BJP’s founder Kailashpati Mishra.