New Delhi: Former-Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and senior BJP leader Sushil Modi on Monday passed away at the age of 72 after battling with cancer at Delhi’s AIIMS. Sushil Modi, who was Bharatiya Janata Party’s Rajya Sabha MP, had in April this year revealed that he was suffering from cancer and that he would not contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

According to the official sources, Sushil Modi was recently admitted to Delhi’s All India Medical Institute of Sciences due to his poor health conditions and lost his battle for life after undergoing treatment for the last few days.

Earlier, in April, announcing that he had been suffering from cancer, Modi had requested the BJP national leadership to relieve him of assignments related to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

In his last X handle post on April 3, the former-Bihar deputy chief minister had written, “I have been battling cancer for the last 6 months. Now I feel that the time has come to tell people. I will not be able to do anything in the Lok Sabha elections. I have told everything to the PM. Always grateful and always dedicated to the country, Bihar and the party.”

PM Modi’s Expresses Grief

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed his grief after the sudden demise of Sushil Modi. He took to X handle and said, “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. 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!”

Sushil Modi’s Political Life

Sushil Modi has been the face of the BJP in Bihar for a very long time and was Deputy Chief Minister twice in the NDA government under Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. He held important portfolios in the Bihar government including finance.

He was considered close to Nitish and is said to have played an important role in Kumar’s latest comeback to the NDA camp in January this year.

Modi was a lifelong member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He was appointed the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers for the Implementation of Goods and Service Tax in July 2011.

Sushil Modi's political career started as a student activist at Patna University. His political career, which spanned over three decades, Sushil Kumar Modi held various positions, including MLA, MLC and member of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. He served as the deputy CM of Bihar from 2005 to 2013, and again from 2017 to 2020.

He was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1990 from Patna Central Assembly constituency and was made the chief whip of the BJP legislature party.

He also served as the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar Assembly from 1996 to 2004. He was first elected as a Lok Sabha MP from Bhagalpur seat in 2004, however, he later gave up his Lok Sabha membership in 2005 and became a MLC and took over as the deputy chief minister of Bihar with Nitish Kumar as the CM. Modi was elected as the BJP Rajya Sabha MP in 2020.