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Not quitting NCP: Sangma

NEW DELHI, JAN. 17. The senior Nationalist Congress Party leader, P.A. Sangma, tonight denied reports that he had resigned from the party.

"There is no question of my resigning from the party," Mr. Sangma told PTI while reacting to the reports.

Earlier in the day, Mr. Sangma hinted that a split was imminent in the party because its alignment with the Congress had gone against the original issue involved in the formation of the NCP and its ideology.

"I cannot be a party to the alignment with Congress as our NCP was formed on the basis of not allowing a person of foreign origin to be the Prime Minister of our country. Besides, it goes against our ideology of nationalism and patriotism."

"There will be an immediate split in the party if a show-cause notice is issued to me or I am expelled from the party for speaking out against the alignment," he said. "How can Pawar go against it to join hands with Sonia Gandhi when it (the stand that a person of foreign origin cannot hold a constitutional post) is enshrined in the preamble and constitution of our party," he asked.

"My request to him is that he should leave NCP and straightway join the Congress because he has set aside the issue of foreign origin," Mr. Sangma, a former Lok Sabha Speaker, said.

"If Pawar does not leave the NCP, then I will be compelled to go to the Election Commission and claim the NCP remains with us as he cannot carry the party with him," he said.

"Anyway the real NCP is with us and not with Pawar. The Election Commission recognised NCP as a national party because it polled six per cent of the total votes in five States. Meghalaya, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh in the northeast and Chhattisgarh are with me and V.C. Shukla. Let Pawar take Maharashtra to the Congress," he added.

Mr. Sangma said that a decision would be taken and the final picture would emerge by Tuesday, after the meeting of the North East People's Forum in New Delhi on Monday.

The NEPF was formed recently as a platform to highlight the issues and problems of the northeast, by aligning with the National Democratic Alliance.

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