Sushil Modi may become the first BJP leader to represent all four Houses

With December 3 being the last day for filing nominations, and the Mahagatbandhan as well as the LJP deciding not to field any candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll in Bihar, the election of senior BJP leader Sushil Modi as the Rajya Sabha member now looks almost certain.

But more than this achievement, Modi will be attaining one more rare feat. He will be the first BJP leader from Bihar to become a member of all the four Legislative Houses – State Assembly, Legislative Council, Lok Sabha and now the Rajya Sabha in his three-decade-long political career.

Modi, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, who could not join the Nitish Kumar Cabinet this time, won his first Assembly poll in 1990 when he was elected from Kumhrar constituency in Patna. In 2004, he won the Lok Sabha election from Bhagalpur.

However, soon after taking over as Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister in November 2005, he preferred to become a member of the Legislative Council (MLC) in 2006, instead of contesting an Assembly election.

On December 2, 2020, he filed his nomination papers for the sole Rajya Sabha seat, which fell vacant after the untimely demise of former Union Minister and LJP founder Ram Vilas Paswan. Though the Mahagatbandhan had initially proposed to back Paswan’s widow Reena Paswan for the RS seat, it backed out after Paswan’s son Chirag politely turned down the RJD offer.

“Bihar wants to get rid of Sushil Modi. And we don’t want to be seen as an obstacle for the person who is all set to move to Delhi,” said RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwary.

Incidentally, RJD chief Lalu Prasad was the first politician from Bihar who became a member of all the four Houses. He won the Lok Sabha poll in 1977, Bihar Assembly in 1980, Legislative Council in 1990, and Rajya Sabha in 2002. Later, another Union Minister Nagmani too achieved this feat as he was MLA from Kurtha in Bihar (1977), Rajya Sabha (1994), Janata Dal Lok Sabha MP from Chatra (1999) and MLC in 2006.