NEW DELHI: Former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and former Rajya Sabha MP of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sushil Kumar Modi, passed away on Monday evening after battling cancer. Modi, a key figure in uncovering the fodder scam in Bihar and a close ally of current Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, had been actively involved in politics since his time at Patna University.
On April 3, Modi revealed through a social media post about his battle with cancer. Despite undergoing treatment for the past six months, he succumbed to the illness at AIIMS Delhi.
Modi suffered from end stage of Urinary bladder cancer which had spread to his bone, AIIMS sources said, he had personally informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi about his condition, requesting relief from all election-related responsibilities.
Born in 1952, Modi held various political positions, he served in the state assembly, council, Lok Sabha, and Rajya Sabha. He served as Deputy CM of Bihar from 2005 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2020, overseeing the state's finance ministry.
He became an MLA for the first time in 1990 from the Patna Central constituency and was made the chief whip of the BJP legislature party.
From 1996 to 2004, he was the leader of the opposition in the state assembly.
He became a member of Lok Sabha in 2004 from Bhagalpur.
He gave up his Lok Sabha membership in 2005 and became a member of the legislative council, following which he was made the deputy chief minister with Nitish Kumar as the CM.
He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2020, and retired earlier this year.
A lifelong member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Modi remained committed to serving the party and society, advocating for the ideology of "nation first." In 2011, he was appointed as the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers for the Implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST).