NEW DELHI: As urged by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the campaign for the recent Bihar assembly elections, the state has a “dual-engine government,” with the NDA in power both in the center as in the state. Now, with the BJP nominating former Bihar Chief Deputy Minister Sushil Kumar Modi as its Rajya Sabha candidate for the upcoming by-elections, there is the possibility of a “double Modi government” in New Delhi.
Sushil Modi is competing for the post of Rajya Sabha which was left vacant due to the death of the Union minister and founder of LJP Ram Vilas Paswan.
In fact, the election for this particular seat of Rajya Sabha is taking place for the third time in the last two and a half years.
Minister of Justice and Law of the Union Ravi Shankar Prasad he was the first to be elected from the seat for the fourth consecutive term in April 2018. The seat was vacated after he won the 2019 Lok Sabha elections of Patna Saheb.
Ram Vilas Paswan, who had decided not to participate in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, won the by-elections held in June 2019. The seat came to him as part of a seat-sharing agreement between the BJP and the LJP.
The LJP came to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in six seats alongside a Rajya Sabha seat from the BJP quota. Paswan chose to enter the Rajya Sabha and left his traditional seat at Hajipur Lok Sabha for his younger brother and state president of the LJP, Pashupati Kumar Paras. The LJP won all six seats.
It was Paswan’s second term as a member of the upper house. And on both occasions, he became a deputy for Rajya Sabha with the quota of other parties and not with the strength of his LJP. Since 1977, he had won every general election to the Lok Sabha. However, he lost the 2009 elections. In 2010, he was nominated by RJD led by Lalu Prasad.
However, he resigned from the Rajya Sabha seat two years before his term expired and won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections with the LJP as an ally of the NDA.
Now, the BJP has nominated Sushil Modi to succeed Paswan as Rajya Sabha, an election to be held on December 14. The notification was issued on November 26 and the last date for submission of nominations is December 3. Mahagathbandhan has yet to declare his candidate.
Sushil Modi is sure to win the bypoll, as a candidate needs 122 votes to win. The NDA has 125 votes in the 243-member assembly.
Sushil Modi is also likely to be included in Narendra Modi’s council of ministers. It is speculated that Sushil Modi’s services are being used for BJP. However, his chances are grim because he is considered an efficient minister.
With a long term as Bihar’s finance minister in Nitish Kumar’s cabinet, he headed the empowered committee of state finance ministers on GST and played a key role in resolving contentious issues in the GST.
If Sushil Modi becomes part of the Narendra Modi government, the NDA government in the center will have two Modis. With the NDA ruling in the center and in Bihar, it has a twin-engine government. With Sushil Modi moving to the center, the NDA dispensation will have a dual Modi government.
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