SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who is running to return to the job, said on Monday his rival, incumbent Jair Bolsonaro, is taking the low road against him and his family on the campaign trail.

Speaking in his first news conference for foreign journalists since the campaign began, the leftist leader accused Bolsonaro's supporters of spreading falsehoods about him and also his new wife Rosângela da Silva.

Some Bolsonaro supporters have used social media to allege that da Silva will close evangelical churches if he wins October's election. Da Silva has insisted he is for religious freedom and had demonstrated that during his eight years as president from 2003 to 2010. His Workers' Party has sued a pastor-lawmaker who spread the claim.

Bolsonaro followers have also alleged that da Silva's wife is a follower of an Afro-Brazilian religion in an apparent attempt to hurt the former president's support among evangelicals.

Rosângela da Silva replied on Twitter on Aug.9, saying she and her husband will always respect people's faith no matter which, and da Silva echosed that approach on Monday.

“I don’t want to know if my opponent’s Catholic or evangelical. If he sniffs coke or he doesn’t. If he is or isn’t a boozer. I don’t care. My disagreement with him is over politics and policy,” he said.

Asked about media reports that Bolsonaro was interested in questioning his wife's faith in TV ads, da Silva replied: “I never involved any president's wife in a political campaign. I never included any personal problems of any candidate in their political life.

“When you start involving the wives (of candidates) in campaigns, it is because you have nothing to speak about,” da Silva said.

“I have read things on social media. Given who it is coming from, we need to always expect for the worse. From that cactus you cannot expect a fragrant flower. It is only bad things,” added da Silva, who last week suggested at his campaign opener that Bolsonaro was “possessed by the devil.”

The 76-year-old former president also accused Bolsonaro is “the only (candidate) who has ... used fake news and who has challenged Brazil's institutions” by suggesting he might not accept the results of the elections.