A much-lauded plan by India’s Tata group to build the world’s cheapest car, the diminutive Nano, would not be possible without heavy government subsidies, one of the project’s key opponents claimed on Monday.

Partha Chatterjee, leader of the opposition in West Bengal state, claimed the group was building the plant to make the Rs100,000 ($2,259) car for the project in Singur, near Kolkata, on land provided by the government at low rents.