Former Bihar deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi announced on Wednesday that he has been suffering from cancer for the last six months, and will therefore not run for office.
“Now I felt the time had come to tell people. Situation regarding my health was also shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Always grateful and dedicated to the country, Bihar and the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The political circles were abuzz in February with speculation over Sushil Modi’s absence from the BJP’s list of Rajya Sabha candidates from Bihar.
He once served as the party’s poster boy, and held considerable influence over the BJP in Bihar for more than three decades.