Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed the Opposition’s alliance as “majboori ki dosti (friendship of compulsion)” and sought to assure the NDA partners that his government was set to return to power for a third term next year.

Modi claimed that prominent countries wouldn’t be clinching big deals with “Bharat” if they thought he was on his way out.

Modi was addressing a hurriedly convened meeting of NDA partners at a hotel in Delhi in the evening that was seen as a desperate bid to counter the Opposition’s unity summit in Bangalore. The BJP provided a list of 38 NDA allies who participated in the meeting, many of whom with hardly any representation in Parliament, betraying a bid to project a bigger show of strength than the Opposition’s 26-party session.

In his address, Modi refrained from taking the name of the Opposition alliance — INDIA — but said tie-ups “built on negativity have never won”. He held up the NDA as a positive alliance devoted to the service of the poor of “Bharat”.

“When an alliance is dynastic and corrupt, the country will lose,” Modi said.

The high points of his address were recalling old partners like late Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and going all out to assure the present allies that he was set to return to power in 2024. The Akali Dal is currently not part of the NDA, but the BJP is said to be trying to woo the party.

“The 2024 Lok Sabha polls are not far away. The people of the country have made up their mind to return an NDA government for a third term. You all are aware of the countrymen’s will,” Modi said. “Videsh ka mann bhi yehi ishara kar raha hai (Foreign countries, too, are giving out the same indication.)”

“Usually, when polls are so near, major countries of the world wait to see the results. They don’t want to ink important deals with a government that is on its way out,” Modi said. “But things are different now. All the major countries like the US, France, Japan, Australia, the UK are all inviting representatives of the NDA government and signing big deals. They know that the faith of the people of Bharat is in the NDA,” he added.

Modi, who usually terms the central government “hamari sarkar”, struck a different note on Tuesday as he kept saying “NDA sarkar”.

“In the last nine years some of you may have tried to contact me but I may not have been able to meet you because of my busy schedule. Some of you may also have not got your due place due to my SPG security. But despite these things, you never complained and I’m grateful to you for this,” Modi said, asserting that the NDA would work like a team.