Modi is the man India is looking up to: Ram Kripal Yadav

He told media, "I have been a dedicated worker of the RJD for 35 years but was forced to take this step"

Ram Kripal Yadav, who quit the RJD after 35 years of association with Lalu Prasad, Wednesday joined the BJP and immediately endorsed Narendra Modi as "the man India is looking up to".

"I have been a dedicated worker of the RJD for 35 years but was forced to take this step," Yadav told the media here, referring to his friendship with the former Bihar chief minister.

After joining the BJP in presence of party president Rajnath Singh, the Rajya Sabha member, explained why he quit the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

"In the RJD, one family is getting preference over others. I was pained at what was happening to ordinary workers like us," he said.

"We felt that social justice was what we must fight for, and not for one family," he said in an attack on Lalu Prasad.

Yadav praised BJP's prime ministerial candidate Modi as "the man India is looking up to".

Yadav left the RJD in disgust after Lalu Prasad named his daughter Misa Bharti as the candidate in Patliputra constituency in Patna. Yadav reportedly wanted to contest from there.

Yadav appeared to indicate that he will not be contesting the coming Lok Sabha polls when he said that he "will work as a grassroot level worker for the BJP.

"I have never been a leader. I have been a common worker in my 35 years of working in the RJD."

Lalu Prasad meanwhile took a jibe at Yadav.

"Overnight Narendra Modi has become his brother. The way Ram Kripal went against all his principles today, the people of Bihar are watching."