Sushil Kumar Modi, former Bihar Deputy CM, now made BJP candidate for Rajya Sabha by-poll in state

Speculations had gone rife over the Rajya Sabha seat, which was vacated after the demise of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder Ram Vilas Paswan.

Amid speculations over the Rajya Sabha seat, which was vacated after the demise of Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) founder and former union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, the Bharatiya Janata Party has made Sushil Kumar Modi as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypolls from Bihar.

BJP MLC Sanjay Mayukh told Zee News on Friday regarding the latest development. The election for the Rajya Sabha seat will be held on December 14 and the election process will begin from December 3.

A confusion had crept in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) over the Rajya Sabha seat as the LJP, BJP's ally at the centre had demanded that the seat be given to Ram Vilas Paswan wife, Reena Paswan.

The LJP had written a letter to PM Narendra Modi as Chirag Paswan's party LJP had made its intentions clear. LJP media in-charge Krishna Singh Kallu had said that making Ram Vilas Paswan's wife Reena Paswan a candidate for Rajya Sabha Election would be a true tribute to Ram Vilas Paswan.

However, given the bitter ties with between the LJP and JD(U), the path for the LJP was hard. The way the LJP has hurt the JDU in the Bihar Assembly Election 2020, it didn't make it easy for the LJP to get this seat.

Along with Nitish Kumar, other JD(U) leaders have been also making statements in this regard. JDU leader Ashok Chaudhary had said that LJP not only damaged JD(U) but also BJP in many seats. In such a situation, it is meaningless to support LJP. JD(U) state president Vashistha Narayan Singh had also spoken of expelling the LJP from the NDA.

On the other hand, it was also being said that BJP is also eyeing this seat as Sushil Kumar Modi is also claiming the seat. All the BJP leaders had kept silence on this matter.

After Nitish Kumar was sworn-in as Bihar chief minister for the seventh time, LJP chief Chirag Paswan said tongue-in-cheek that he hoped that the JD(U) president would "continue to be NDA's chief minister". Chirag, a bitter critic of Kumar, had congratulated Kumar saying, "I congratulate you on becoming the chief minister and the BJP for making you one".

JD(U) emerged third largest in the Assembly winning 43 seats, way behind NDA ally BJP's 74 and RJD's 75. NDA allies Vikasheel Insaan Party and Hindustani Awam Morcha won four seats each and lent support to Kumar.

Paswan, during the acrimony-filled campaign for Bihar assembly polls, had claimed that Kumar might ditch BJP after the results were out, join the RJD-led Grand Alliance and make yet another attempt at posing a challenge to the NDA in the 2024 general elections. Paswan, who had chosen to plough a lonely furrow, had said the LJP was and will remain loyal to BJP, which was staring at the spectre of yet another "paltimaar" (volte-face) by the JD(U) president.

In another tweet, the LJP chief termed the NDA's victory in the state polls "a big win for Prime Minister Narendra Modi". He took a swipe at Kumar saying "There are some people who have been in power for 15 years but still have to take help of three friends (allies)". LJP had withdrawn from the NDA in Bihar.