New Delhi: Senior Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday said that he has been battling cancer for the past six months and therefore won’t be able to either campaign or contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
While sharing a post on X, he said, “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.”
पिछले 6 माह से कैंसर से संघर्ष कर रहा हूँ । अब लगा कि लोगों को बताने का समय आ गया है । लोक सभा चुनाव में कुछ कर नहीं पाऊँगा ।
PM को सब कुछ बता दिया है ।
देश, बिहार और पार्टी का सदा आभार और सदैव समर्पित |
— Sushil Kumar Modi (मोदी का परिवार ) (@SushilModi) April 3, 2024
The BJP has, however, included the senior leader in its 27-member Election Manifesto Committee, which would be headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister Piyush Goyal will be convenors and co-convenors, respectively.
Sushil Kumar Modi fact file
- He is a senior BJP leader and lifelong member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). He served in various positions ranging from MP in both the Upper House and Lower House of the Parliament to Bihar cabinet minister.
- He was born on January 5, 1952 and graduated with a B.Sc. (Hons) Botany degree from Patna Science College.
- In college, he joined the social movement started by Jai Prakash Narayan against the Emergency and was arrested five times during the period.
- He joined active politics in 1990 by contesting the Bihar legislative assembly election from Patna Central Assembly (now known as Kumhrar) and was re-elected twice in 1995 and 2000. He also served as a Lok Sabha MP from Bhagalpur from 2004-09.
- In 2005, he was made Bihar Deputy Chief Minister under the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government till 2013 after Kumar broke off his ties with NDA. In 2017, Sushil Modi was the main player behind the fall of the JDU-RJD Grand Alliance government in Bihar and again took over the deputy CM post. Later, he was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar. Modi retired from Rajya Sabha today.