Patna, Jun 17 (IANS): Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi Sunday asked Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to resign after he announced the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) was snapping ties with the BJP.

"Nitish Kumar should resign as the chief minister on moral grounds," Modi told the media.

"He was elected as head of the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) in Bihar when he was made the chief minister. Now that he is no more an NDA leader, he has no moral right to continue.

"He should resign, get elected as JD-U leader for the chief minister's post, then go to the governor," he said.

Modi maintained that the BJP was in no way to blame for the end of the relationship between the two parties.

"We have tried to run the alliance without any problems. JD-U has broken the 17-year-old alliance. This will be a black letter day. They've breached our trust."

He said the BJP would observe June 18 as 'vishvasghat' (betrayal) day and called for a day-long strike.

Modi appealed to the people to teach the JD-U a lesson in the next election.