A four-time MLA, BJP’s Tarkishore Prasad took oath as one of the two deputy chief ministers of Bihar on Monday. Prasad was chosen over Sushil Kumar Modi, who had been the deputy chief minister in the previous three Nitish Kumar governments.

Prasad had been
selected the leader of the legislature in the assembly on Sunday, another post that was held
by Sushil Kumar Modi in the previous term. 

Prasad, 64, is a four-time MLA from Katihar, the place
where the Seemanchal region starts.

Prasad belongs to
the same Vaishya community as Sushil Modi,  but the big difference is that Modi hails from Rajsthan while Prasad is from Katihar in
Bihar. 

He is active
in politics since the 1980s. His rise in politics started with the anti-Lalu
agitation in 2005 when he was chosen as an MLA from Katihar for the first
time. 

He is supposed to be a pure party man and started his political career as a member of the ABVP– the student wing of RSS.

It is said that he will hardly care for any policy other that
of the BJP’s. That way, Nitish Kumar has been given a very tough replacement
for Sushil Modi.

Sushil Modi had greeted Prasad and Renu Devi on the post in a tweet on Sunday.

He had also posted a tweet expressing his bitterness, in a veiled manner, over the taking away of the post from him.

He thanked the BJP for allowing him to “serve” the party for 40 years, but let his displeasure be known in the last line of the tweet, where he said that “no one can take away the post of ‘karykarta’ (party worker) from him”.

Acording to reports, Modi has been assured of a berth in the union cabinet by the party. 

The decision is seen
to have been taken to remove junior Modi from the state government for his
apparent closeness with Nitish Kumar.

This closeness between
Kumar and Modi goes back to the 1980s when the two waged an anti-congress movement
in the state.

With its emergence as
the dominant party in the alliance, BJP could afford to cull Modi from the state
and have a bigger say in the government affairs.