Patna, Oct 19 : Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday appreciated Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning the Mahatma Gandhi Central University in Motihari. 'I will respect him (Modi) till he is alive,' the Chief Minister said while addressing the convocation ceremony of Mahatma Gandhi Central University in presence of President Draupadi Murmu. 'In 2007, UPA II had taken the decision of having a central university in states of the country and asked for the lands. They again passed an act in 2009 for the same. We had requested them to make one central university in Champaran and another in Gaya. We also told them that Mahatma Gandhi had also visited the place. But they didn't sanction it. I told them that Congress is forgetting Mahatma Gandhi,' the Chief Minister said. He said that in 2014 Modi took the decision to build a central university in Motihari. 'I thank him for fulfilling his promise,' Kumar said. 'I will respect him until I am alive. Our prestige is connected with Champaran. Modi sanctioned it in 2014 and its construction started in 2016. They (BJP leaders) are my friends and our friendship would not end,' Kumar said. Speculations about Nitish Kumar changing his political goal post again from Mahagathbandhan towards NDA are ripe in the state. /IANS