Setback to BJP: Ex-Bihar Deputy CM Sushil Modi to not contest LS elections, 'fighting cancer for 6 months'

In a big setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi on Wednesday said that he will not contest the upcoming general polls as he has been battling cancer for the past six months.

While making the announcement on X (previously Twitter), he said that he felt "the time had come to tell people." The former Bihar Deputy CM and BJP MP also said that he even apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the development.

Modi said on X: "I have been fighting cancer for the past 6 months. I felt that it was time to tell people about it. I will not be able to anything during the Lok Sabha elections. I have told the Prime Minister everything..." Furthermore, he said that he will always remain grateful to the country, Bihar and the BJP.

Soon after Sushil Modi's battle with cancer became public knowledge, BJP leader and MP Ravi Shankar Prasad said he was "deeply pained" and wished the senior BJP politician a speedy recovery. 

Bihar BJP president and Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary informed about Sushil Modi's speedy recovery on X. While wishing the former Bihar Deputy CM a speedy recovery, Samrat Chaudhary said the people of Bihar are also praying for his good health and return to active political life. 

Sushil Modi was the Deputy CM of Bihar from July 2017 to November 2020 in the BJP-JDU government led by Nitish Kumar. In 2017, Sushil Modi was the main architect of the fall of the JDU-RJD Mahagathbandhan alliance government in Bihar due to issues around RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family over allegations of benami properties and irregular financial transactions. 

In December 2020, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar.Sushil Modi was elected to fill the seat left vacant after Lok Janshakti Party chief and former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan died in October 2020 due to prolonged illness. His tenure In Rajya Sabha has ended and he was not sent to the Upper House again.