New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) headed by P A Sangma today (Feb 20, 2004) accused its rival led by Sharad Pawar of presenting "false and legally invalid" documents to Election Commission to substantiate its claim of being the real and original party and alleged that the Pawar faction would have to face the consequences.

Party general secretary Jimmy George and its advocate Aman Sinha told reporters that there was "no semblance of responsibility" in the affidavits filed before the poll panel by Pawar himself and his senior leaders, including Tariq Anwar, Jagannath Mishra and Praful Patel.

Claiming that the affidavits were "not legally tenable", Sinha said that if someone files such documents, he is "bound to face the consequences. It is for the Election Commission to decide. It cannot ignore...".

This, he said, was because the proceedings before the Commission were judicial proceedings and therefore would attract the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Party spokesman B Raina dismissed reports of Sangma trying to patch up with Pawar. He said that though Pawar had sent some emissaries to Sangma in this regard, the former Lok Sabha Speaker ruled out any rapprochement.

He claimed that a tacit understanding has been arrived at between the Sangma faction and National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on fighting elections together to "keep Indian citizens of foreign origin at bay".