Sushil Modi says he is battling cancer, won't fight Lok Sabha elections

'I will not be able to do anything' during elections, says veteran Bihar politicians on X

Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP leader and former Bihar deputy chief minister, said on Wednesday he has cancer and will not contest in the Lok Sabha elections.

 “I have been battling cancer for the past six months. I felt that it was time to tell people about it. I will not be able to do anything during the Lok Sabha elections. I have told the Prime Minister everything," Modi wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

He expressed gratitude towards the nation, Bihar, and his party. Modi joined active politics in 1990 and successfully contested from the Patna Central Assembly. He was re-elected in 1995 and 2000. In 1990, he was made the Chief Whip of the BJP Bihar legislature party. From 1996 to 2004, he was the leader of opposition in the State Assembly.

Modi has held prominent roles in Bihar politics and has served as a member of both Houses of the Parliament — the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.  In addition to holding the post of deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, Modi has also served as the state's finance minister.

In the 2005 Bihar elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power and Modi was elected as the leader of Bihar BJP Legislature Party. He subsequently resigned from the Lok Sabha and took over as the deputy chief minister of Bihar – a post he held for some 11 years. In December 2020, he was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar to fill a vacancy created after the death of NDA ally Ram Vilas Paswan.