No need for Modi debate after court ruling: Pawar

Says, if courts have given their verdict, then the question of holding a debate on it does not arise

Sharad Pawar today said there was no need for a debate once courts had ruled on Narendra Modi's role during the 2002 riots, days after similar remarks by his party colleague Praful Patel led to suggestions that NCP was going soft on the BJP PM candidate.

The party, however, insisted that it had "fundamental ideological" difference with Modi and ruled out alliance with BJP.      

Responding to a query during a press conference here, the NCP chief and Union Minister Pawar said, "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."

Pawar was asked about Patel's recent statement.

"....Judicial system is the final recourse for getting justice on any issue or to bring finality to any controversy, and if the judicial system has given any pronouncement, we ought to respect it. We will not question it further," Patel had said.

A report in a Marathi daily earlier this week had said that Pawar had met Modi, BJP's prime ministerial candidate, last month in New Delhi. However later Pawar refuted the report.