This Article is From Feb 03, 2014

100% with Congress, clarifies NCP after Sharad Pawar's comment on Narendra Modi

100% with Congress, clarifies NCP after Sharad Pawar's comment on Narendra Modi

Sharad Pawar has said there should be no more discussion on allegations related to the 2002 Gujarat riots against Narendra Modi, as he has been cleared by the courts. (File pic)

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today declared that it would "100 per cent" go with the Congress, clarifying after two party leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel spoke in Narendra Modi's support, raising speculation of a realignment ahead of the national election, due by May.

"100% we are with the Congress. We have been fighting communal forces all along and we are diehard secularists," said NCP spokesperson Jitender Awadh.

This clarification follows statements by Mr Patel and Mr Pawar, both ministers in the UPA government, which indicated that the NCP was going soft on Mr Modi, the BJP's prime ministerial candidate.

Sharad Pawar said on Sunday that there should be no more discussion on allegations related to the 2002 Gujarat riots against Mr Modi, as he has been cleared by the courts.

"If courts have given their verdict, then the question of holding a debate on it does not arise. We accept the court's order and there won't be any debate on it," Mr Pawar said in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

He was commenting on his deputy, Praful Patel's suggestion last week that, "if the judicial system has given a certain finality to any controversy, I think we should let it rest there."

Mr Patel was referring to Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's allegation earlier in the week that Mr Modi "abetted" the 2002 riots in Gujarat in which hundreds of Muslims were killed. Mr Modi has been cleared of complicity in the violence by a Supreme Court investigation.

The NCP statements fueled talk that the party is not satisfied with its alliance of many years with the Congress. The two parties govern Maharashtra and are partners in the PM's coalition government at the Centre. Last Friday, Mr Pawar refuted a newspaper report that he had held a "secret" meeting with Narendra Modi

Congress sources believe the NCP is posturing ahead of bi-party negotiations for how they will divide Maharashtra's 48 parliamentary seats between them.
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