New Delhi [India], May 14 (HBTV): Former Bihar deputy chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader (BJP) Sushil Kumar Modi who was battling cancer during the past seven months, passed away at the age of 72 on Monday evening.  

The senior BJP leader passed away at the AIIMS Hospital. 

Sushil Modi announced his treatment the previous month and did not participate in the Lok Sabha election campaign.  

The last rites of the former Rajya Sabha MP will be performed later in the day.  

On April 3, this year, Sushil Modi revealed he was suffering from cancer and requested the BJP to relieve him of assignments related to the Lok Sabha elections.  

In a post in Hindi on X, he said, "I have been battling with cancer for the last six months. I feel that now the time has come to make it public. I would not be able to do my work during the Lok Sabha polls. I have shared this with the PM. My gratitude to the country, Bihar and my party."  

Over his three-decade-long political career, Modi played a pivotal role in shaping Bihar's political environment. Sushil Modi held various positions in his three-decade-long political career. He served as an MLA, MLC, and member of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.  

The BJP leader was born on January 5, 1952, and began his political journey as a student activist at Patna University, where he served as the general secretary of the students' union in 1973.      

Modi was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1990 from the Patna Central constituency, where he defeated sitting Congress legislator Akil Haider.  

Modi also served as the leader of the opposition in the state assembly from 1996 to 2004.

In 2004, Sushil Modi was elected as a member of the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur. He got 345,151 votes, with 45.6 per cent votes by defeating Communist Party of India (M) leader Subodh Ray.   

Then later, he stepped down from his Lok Sabha post in 2005 to become a member of the legislative council and was appointed Bihar’s deputy chief minister alongside Nitish Kumar. He served as the deputy chief Minister of Bihar from 2005 to 2013 and again from 2017 to 2020. 

(ANI) This is a syndicated news feed. HBTV has edited it for clarity.