Staff Reporter
Senior BJP leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi died at the age of 72 on Monday evening. He was diagnosed with cancer in April this year.
The mortal remains of the former Rajya Sabha MP will be brought to his residence in Patna’s Rajendra Nagar area tomorrow (May 14) and last rites will be performed later in the day.
In 2020 after Bihar assembly polls, in a surprise political decision the BJP central leadership had decided to nominate two other leaders as Deputies to the state Chief Minister Nitish Kumar – Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi.
Sushil Modi missed the berth. Earlier, between 2005 and 2020, more than once when BJP was part of the alliance with JD-U led by Nitish Kumar; Sushil Modi was the deputy Chief Minister.
Actually after Sushil Modi made some controversial remarks in 2020 in favour of Nitish Kumar, it was then speculated that probably Sushil Kumar Modi would be shifted to Delhi.
The long friendship between JD(U) stalwart Nitish Kumar and Sushil Kumar Modi is often regarded as legendary and compared to Atal Bihari Vajpayee-L K Advani bond.
However, there has been a difference, according to observers — that in most instances it has been Nitish Kumar who walked away with glamour and prized positions while Sushil Kumar Modi readily played second fiddle.
Of course, during the height of the debate in 2020, Sushil Kumar Modi had tweeted to say: “The BJP and the Sangh Parivar gave me so much in the political life of 40 years. I will discharge the responsibility that will be given to me. No one can take away the post of the party worker”.
Both Sushil Modi and Nitish Kumar and also Lalu Prasad had formed the famous troika of younger leaders in Bihar.
Perhaps, Sushil Modi provoked the high command’s unhappiness when he had tweeted in support of Nitish after demands were made from within the BJP to replace the chief minister after the Bihar elections – wherein BJP had won more number of MLAs than its partner Janata Dal (United) in 2020.
“Nitish Kumar is the Captain of NDA in Bihar & will remain its Captain in next assembly elections in 2020 also. When Captain is hitting 4 & 6 & defeating rivals by inning where is the Q of any change,” Sushil Modi tweeted on 11 September, 2020.
There has been talk about internal conflict within BJP as a number of state saffron party leaders did not agree to Sushil Modi’s decision to openly bat for Nitish Kumar when the JD(U) suffered huge number of loss of seats in the 2020 state assembly polls.
It is said the row was initially kicked off by Sanjay Paswan, who wanted Nitish Kumar to shift to Delhi.
Senior BJP leader Dr C.P. Thakur, a Bhumihar, countered his party colleague and said – “The decision to ally or not to ally or who will be the CM face is to be decided by our central leadership”.
Mritunjay Tiwari, a Brahmin legislator and state BJP vice-president, also said that Sushil Kumar Modi’s views were his personal opinion and not of the party’s.
In 2020, there were talks about anxious moments whether and how the BJP would be able to clip Nitish Kumar’s wings.
Several BJP leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and incumbent Bihar deputy chief ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, expressed grief and extended their condolences to Sushil Kumar Modi’s bereaved family.
“I am deeply saddened by the untimely demise of Sushil Modi ji, my valuable colleague in the party and my friend for decades. He has played an invaluable role in the rise and success of BJP in Bihar. Strongly opposing the Emergency, he made a name for himself in student politics,” PM Modi wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“He was known as a very hardworking and sociable MLA. He had a deep understanding of the issues related to politics. He also did a lot of commendable work as an administrator. His active role in the passage of GST will always be remembered. My condolences are with his family and supporters in this hour of grief. Om Shanti!,” he added.