New Delhi: Less than a week after the Election Commission recognised the Sharad Pawar group as Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the P A Sangma faction today (Mar 13, 2004) merged with Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress to form "Nationalist Trinamool Congress", but the new entity downplayed the foreign origin issue of Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

The new party would be headed by Banerjee and retain the symbol of "flower with grass" of the Trinamool Congress.

An announcement to this effect was made by Banerjee and Sangma at a joint press conference in New Delhi in the presence of Nagaland Chief Minister N Rio, who is also chairman of the Northeast Peoples Forum, which has aligned with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Banerjee sidestepped questions on whether she endorsed Sangma's views on the foreign origin issue saying, "We do not want him to change his stand (on the issue)."

Sangma said, "There is no difference of opinion between me and her (Banerjee) on any issue."

He denied being "soft" on the foreign origin issue and said if it is so he could have been in Congress or with Pawar. "It is the core issue on which there is no compromise," the former Lok Sabha Speaker said, adding it was not necessary to talk about the same thing 24 hours.