Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar claimed on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party may emerge as the single largest party after the Lok Sabha elections, but Narendra Modi will not become the prime minister again.

“BJP may emerge as the single largest party post parliamentary elections and will have to seek support of allies,” the former Maharashtra chief minister told reporters in Mumbai, according to PTI. “In that scenario, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to get a second term.”

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Pawar also dismissed BJP’s claim that it will win 45 out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra along with the Shiv Sena, The New Indian Express reported. “BJP’s optimism is hollow,” he said. “They feel that they would be able to win the election by importing candidates like they did last time. But, the ground reality is different. People are against them.”

Pawar said sarcastically that the BJP leadership seems to have forgotten that there are 48 Lok Sabha seats, otherwise they would have claimed that they would win 48.

Pawar also claimed that the decision of Sujay Vikhe Patil, son of Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, to join the BJP will not impact the elections.

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Pawar had on Monday said that he will not contest the Lok Sabha elections. Several reports over the past month had said Pawar will contest from Madha constituency in Maharashtra.

“After holding talks within family, we were of the opinion that next generation members should be given chance,” Pawar said in Pune. On Tuesday, the senior politician denied there was any discord in his family over his decision not to contest the polls.

The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19, and the results declared on May 23. In Maharashtra, the polls will be held on April 11, April 18, April 23 and April 29.