Patna: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Sunday announced its candidates from Bihar for the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections, but Sushil Kumar Modi’s name was missing from the list. Once the poster boy of the party, he wielded significant influence over the BJP in Bihar for over three decades.
“The only rehabilitation I see for him now is being made governor in the future,” said a senior BJP leader to ThePrint on condition of anonymity after the central leadership announced former minister Bhim Singh and state BJP Mahila Morcha president Dharamshila Gupta as Rajya Sabha nominees.
Speaking to ThePrint Sunday, Sushil Modi said, “I would like to thank the party for the confidence they have shown in me. Over the past 33 years, I have been a member of the assembly, state legislative council, Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. I have been made the leader of the opposition, the state party president and deputy chief minister thrice.”
He also congratulated the two BJP nominees and added that he would continue to serve the party.
According to party insiders, Sushil Modi doesn’t fit the game plan of the “new BJP” anymore, which dominates over its allies.
“Sushil has guided the party since 1996, when he became the face of the BJP as the leader of the opposition, but the impression among the central leaders is that he is too submissive to Nitish Kumar and also that he did not allow backward caste leaders to emerge within the party while he was in-charge. Other senior backward caste leaders like Nand Kishore Yadav and Prem Kumar had to play second fiddle,” said a senior BJP leader on condition of anonymity.
Sushil Modi served as the deputy to JD(U) chief and CM Nitish Kumar for about 11 years and the two are known to enjoy great rapport.
“The late Arun Jaitley was Sushil’s last mentor, around the time the Vajpayee-Advani era ended in the BJP. Once Jaitley was gone, he had no mentors in the central party leadership,” said the senior leader.
Sushil Modi’s relationship with Nitish
If Nitish felt more comfortable with Sushil Kumar Modi, it’s because they have history.
In 2005, when JD(U) and BJP had won the assembly elections, BJP leader Murli Manohar declared Nitish Kumar as the CM and Sushil Modi as his deputy. “The two are like a Ram-Lakshman jodi (pair) and will take Bihar into a new era of development,” Joshi reportedly said.
When Nitish snapped ties with the BJP in 2022 to join the Mahagathbandhan, comprising the RJD, the Congress and Left parties, he made a public statement declaring that had Sushil been the deputy CM, the situation would not have arisen.
The current BJP leadership is in no mood to allow this old friendship to resurface in the state’s politics. In 2013, when Nitish had first snapped ties with the BJP, there were speculations that Sushil may cross over and join the JD(U), but the BJP leader had put the speculations to rest, reportedly saying, “There should be no doubt where I will be. I want the party flag over my body when I die.”
‘Mukadme baji Modi’
As the general secretary of the Patna University’s students’ union and later as the state general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (the students wing of the RSS) in the 1970s, he emerged as one of the central youth leaders of the JP movement, led by veteran socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan.
He went on to become one of the fiercest critics of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav during the 1990s. Serving as the Patna Central MLA thrice, he ascended to the position of Leader of the Opposition in 1996. It was from this platform that he spearheaded a relentless campaign against Lalu, who, at the time, seemed invincible. Sushil Modi went after Lalu over the fodder scam he was embroiled in. He was even a petitioner in the fodder scam case, prompting a CBI investigation that resulted in Lalu’s conviction.
He took on Lalu and his family again over the alleged land-for-job scam and the IRCTC tender scam, both of which are currently under CBI probe.
A frustrated Lalu had once dubbed him “mukadme baji Modi” (litigious Modi).
Now, instead of nominating the prominent leader, the BJP has nominated two relatively unknown names.
Bhim Singh, who belongs to the extremely backward class (EBC), has played a pivotal role as one of the original members of the Samata Party (co-founded by Nitish) back in 1994. Afterward, he switched his allegiance to Lalu’s RJD and served as an MLC. Later, he realigned himself with Nitish Kumar’s camp, assuming ministerial responsibilities. Despite his nine-year tenure in the BJP, Singh has yet to receive any significant assignments.
The other nominee from the party, Dharamshila Gupta, has a background in the RSS.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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