Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar on Friday denied that the outfit was heading for a split following his differences with his colleague P A Sangma.

"Sangma is a senior party functionary and if he has any differences on what NCP should do, then I would sit with him and sort out the issue," he said in Pune.

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"Sangma has his own local compulsions, which need to be sorted out," he said.

Pawar said there would be no tussle for the NCP symbol in case he opted for a tie-up with the Congress and Sangma went with the National Democratic Alliance.

According to Pawar, the NCP had decided, at a meeting in May 2003, that it would seek alliances with like-minded parties, and Sangma had endorsed this idea.

Asked if it was right on his part to discard the issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin, Pawar said, "We have not discarded the issue, but have kept it in backburner as in present political climate what is needed is to keep BJP and its allies at bay."

It was over this issue that Pawar and Sangma had split from the Congress and formed the NCP.

Even the BJP had to put aside some of its core issues, he said, adding it did not mean that the party had deviated from its principles.