Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the proposed mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) of Opposition parties was an “unholy alliance” for “personal survival”, PTI reported. Elections to the Lok Sabha are due in April-May 2019.

“This alliance is for personal survival, not ideology-based support,” he told booth workers from Chennai Central, Chennai North, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli and Tiruvallur constituencies in Tamil Nadu. “This alliance is for power, not for the people. This alliance is for personal ambitions, not people’s aspirations.”

The prime minister added that the people of the country will see through this coalition, which he described as an “incoherent alliance of rich dynasties”.

Modi claimed that former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao had founded the Telugu Desam Party, to combat the “high-handedness” of the Congress. However, the party has now become the key constituent of the grand alliance, Modi said. “He formed a party for the pride and respect of the Telugus at a time when the Congress humiliated a chief minister of Andhra Pradesh,” the prime minister added. “Yet today the party of NT Rama Rao wants to ally with the Congress. How can people of Andhra Pradesh accept this?”

In a reference to the Samajwadi Party, the prime minister added that while some parties in the grand alliance claim to be inspired by socialist leader Ram Manohar Lohia, Lohia was opposed to the Congress. “Corrupt and criminal elements are supreme when these parties govern,” Modi alleged. “ It is common knowledge how the Congress harassed [Samajwadi Party leader] Mulayam Singh Yadav with cases. Have these parties done justice to the ideals of Dr Lohia?”

Modi also claimed that the Congress was trying to spread lies about Bharatiya Janata Party rule. “Almost every poor household in the country has a Jan Dhan bank account but the Congress will mislead people saying that their money is not safe in banks,” he said. “About six crore people have got gas connection. But those who have been rejected by people spread all types of lies on it. They will mislead the people on the Awas yojana.”

The prime minister claimed that 2018 was a “great year” and a “watershed” for the country.