Patna, March 26: Former Buxar MP Lalmuni Choubey, who passed away yesterday, was once the BJP's biggest Bihar face after the late Kailashpati Mishra. This was before Sushil Kumar Modi came to the forefront in the mid-1990s.

Lalmuni was the last of the BJP Titans in the league of Kailashpati and Tarakant Jha, who spent their lives building the party from scratch. If his death at 73 has left politicians cutting across party lines mourning it is not without reason. "By political affiliation he was with the BJP and the RSS. At heart, he was a socialist," said a former JDU MP.

"I twice contested Lok Sabha polls against him and lost. But we remained close friends and talked to each other for hours every day," recalled former JDU MP Shivanand Tiwari. "In fact, when Vajpayee told an election rally in 1999 that if they wanted his government in Delhi, they should vote for Lalmuni, the latter made me hear the speech through his cellphone."

Shivanand also recalled how Lalmuni used to cook food for politicians and leading journalists wearing a towel in his kitchen. "He was my first friend to become a legislator, way back in 1972," Shivanand recalled.

The former BJP MP went to jail during the Jayaprakash Narayan-led agitation in the 1970s. He became health minister and leader of the BJP in the Assembly in the late-1970s. People of Buxar, which he represented four times from 1996 to 2009 before losing the seat by a slender margin, called him "Baba".

"We recall seeing him moving around in a vintage jeep. He never asked for votes. And yet most people voted for him knowing that Baba was honest to the last penny and would not harm anyone," said Ranjit Singh, a 45-year-old Buxar resident. Most of his MPLAD funds remained unspent. He used to give the entire sum to the Buxar district magistrate, but people were still mesmerised by his honesty and austerity.

The late MP's close ties with former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee were well known in political circles. "Vajpayee used to end his electioneering in Buxar and have dinner cooked personally by Lalmuniji," recalled a BJP leader.

"It was only after Vajpayee's visit that money was distributed among party workers. Baba spent what must be the lowest amount in Bihar in elections."

His political clout began to wane after the entry of the "young brigade" led by Sushil Kumar Modi.

Lalmuni got a Lok Sabha ticket till 2009 because Vajpayee's word still counted in the BJP. In 2014, he was denied a ticket. Instead, the party fielded Ashwini Choubey. Lalmuni threatened to contest as an Independent. Ashwini virtually touched his feet, requesting him to abstain.

"Narendra Modi called up Lalmuni twice, requesting him to step aside," recalled a BJP leader. "Lalmuni was even offered a governorship but he refused to oblige. It took a call from L.K. Advani to make him step out of the race."

BJP insiders recall a very telling incident that took place after the Lok Sabha polls.

"Lalmuni was once suiting in the Central Hall of Parliament when Prime Minister Modi was on his way from the Rajya Sabha to Lok Sabha," said a senior BJP leader. "On spotting Lalmuni, Modi stopped briefly. But Lalmuni refused to even acknowledge him.

"During the Assembly polls he was the only BJP leader who did not put pressure on the party to give a ticket to his son."

Prime Minister Modi tweeted his condolence on Lalmuni's demise. But those in the Bihar BJP knew that the days of leaders like Lalmuni were over the moment Narendra Modi began calling the shots.