Tamil Nadu minister KT Rajendra Balaji claimed Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the “daddy” of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as well as the rest of India, ANI reported.

He was responding to questions about the AIADMK’s alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Former Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa, who died in December 2016, had avoided an alliance with the saffron party. During the 2014 Lok Sabha election campaign, Jayalalithaa had, in fact, even invited direct comparison with the then prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi. She had asked: “Who is a better administrator? Is it Gujarat’s Modi or this Tamil Nadu lady?”

In Viruthunagar district’s Srivilliputhur on Friday, Balaji claimed that Modi had been guiding the AIADMK since the death of Amma, or mother, as Jayalalithaa was known, according to The Hindustan Times.

“Amma’s decisions were her own and different,” the dairy development minister said. “But in today’s context, due to the absence of Amma, Modi is our daddy. He is our daddy. India’s daddy.”

In February, the AIADMK and the Bharatiya Janata Party announced their alliance. The Pattali Makkal Katchi will also be a part of this alliance, while the parties are still in talks with actor Vijayakanth’s Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam.