Sushil Modi files nominations for Bihar Rajya Sabha by-poll

Patna: Veteran BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Wednesday filed his nomination papers for by-election to a Rajya Sabha seat in Bihar which has been necessitated by the death of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan.

Modi filed his nomination papers at the Patna Commissioner office in presence of a host of leaders of the ruling NDA, most notable being Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whose deputy he had been for more than a decade, sharing an excellent rapport that has been a stuff of legend in the states political circles.

"I have come here to congratulate my former colleague.

He is currently an MLC and formerly been a member of the Lok Sabha and an MLA before that.

"With his election to the Rajya Sabha he will hold the distinction of having been a member of both houses of the Parliament and the state legislature", Kumar told reporters smilingly.

Kumar, who has two BJP legislators Tar Kishor Prasad and Renu Devi as his deputies in his fourth tenure that began last month, remarked wistfully that he would have preferred Modi by his side "but it is a decision of his party

(BJP)".

"Our wish is known to everybody. But, now that they want to take him to the Centre, we are hopeful that in his new capacity he will continue to serve Bihar", said the JD(U) president in a cryptic remark that lends credence to speculations that Modi might be accommodated in the Union council of ministers.