100% with Congress, no question of joining BJP: NCP

Sharad Pawar had said there should be no more discussion on allegations related to 2002 Gujarat riots against Modi

The ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra on Monday sought to remove confusion over the party’s alliance with partner Congress in the state in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. The NCP also made it clear there was no move to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance.

NCP legislator and state unit executive president Jitendra Awhad clarified that the party would go with the Congress “100 per cent”. He also indicated seat-sharing negotiations between the two could be completed in the near future. NCP is stuck to its demand for 22:26 seat-sharing formula, but Congress has indicated that this will be finalised after the NCP holds talks with state Congress leaders.

Awhad's clarification comes close on the heels of NCP chief Sharad Pawar and party leader Praful Patel speaking in support of Narendra Modi with regard to the 2002 riots and the court judgments delivered so far. This had raised speculation of a realignment ahead of the national election. Statements by Pawar and Patel fuelled talk that NCP is not satisfied with its 15-year alliance with the Congress.

"100%, we are with the Congress. We have been fighting communal forces all along and we are die-hard secularists," said Awhad. He told the party's view after a meeting convened by Pawar to review preparations for the Lok Sabha polls and the short-listing of nominees.

Pawar had on Sunday said there should be no more discussion on allegations related to the 2002 Gujarat riots against Modi, as he has been cleared by the courts. "If the 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," Pawar said in Kolhapur, Maharashtra.

Pawar was commenting on his confidant and Union minister for heavy industries Praful Patel's suggestion last week: "if the judicial system has given a certain finality to any controversy, I think we should let it rest there".

Patel's remarks came in the wake of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's allegation earlier in the week that Modi 'abetted' the 2002 riots in Gujarat in which hundreds of Muslims were killed.