Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his speech in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, saying it went the against the tradition of civility and culture established by former prime ministers, The Indian Express reported.

Pawar said on Friday that he had not heard the prime minister’s speech since it was not made in the Rajya Sabha. The NCP chief is a member of the Upper House. “[From] whatever I read in the newspapers about the speech, I could only tell that it has dented the tradition of making decent and cultured speech...,” PTI quoted him as saying.

“I have heard the speeches of Manmohan Singh, Narasimha Rao and other prime ministers,” Pawar said. “All those speeches were civilised and had respect for Parliament. They had respect for all elected representatives because they followed that kind of culture.”

During the motion of thanks to the president’s address on Thursday, Modi said people of the country do not want a coalition government. He was referring to an alliance of Opposition parties that will challenge the Bharatiya Janata Party in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The opposition parties had addressed a public meeting in Kolkata last month.

“People have seen the work a government with an absolute majority can do,” Modi told the Lok Sabha. “They have seen our work. They do not want a ‘mahamilavat’ [adulterated] government of those who recently gathered in Kolkata.”

Pawar said that “if a person has a certain ideology and sanskar [values], he will make a speech accordingly and here the same thing has happened”.

The NCP chief also hinted at the possibility of contesting the Lok Sabha elections, The Times of India reported. “Some members in the party want me to contest from Madha [in Maharashtra] in the Lok Sabha elections,” he said. “I told them that I will see.”

Pawar, whose party has forged an alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha polls, said his efforts were focussed on pushing state-level alliances. “I have suggested that all non-BJP parties with the capability of defeating the BJP should be invited for a discussion on the pre-poll alliance,” he said. “If they are interested in an alliance, then a way has to be found to come together for the election.”