BJP betrayed JD-U by naming Narendra Modi as PM candidate: Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Sunday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) betrayed his party JD-U even after then BJP president Nitin Gadkari had promised that Narendra Modi will not be the prime ministerial candidate.

"I am telling this for the first time in public. Gadkari had invited me for talks in Delhi through a senior BJP leader of Bihar and had promised me that there was no question of Modi being projected as prime ministerial candidate," Nitish Kumar said at a Janata Dal-United rally here.

But later, BJP leaders informed him that Modi will be the party's candidate for prime minister, Nitish Kumar said.

Sensing that the BJP will not fulfill its promise, the JD-U ended its 17-year-old alliance, the chief minister said.

"It was part of our policy and principle. We cannot compromise with it," he said.

Nitish Kumar said it was wrong on the part of BJP to accuse the JD-U of betraying it.

"In fact, the BJP betrayed us," he said.