As there was no consensus on the issue, the two-day meeting of the national executive committee of RPI in Delhi on June 12 and 13 could not come out with a concrete decision, he said, and assured that the party would announce its decision by the end of this month.

Gavai, who had earlier made it clear that the RPI should forge an alliance with the Congress, however, claimed that the party would not split on the issue. "I have tried to convince my colleagues in the meeting that people who raised the foreign origin issue and sought a change in the Constitution on citizenship were trying to destroy the basic structure of the Constitution prepared by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. Hence, we should not support these forces and continue our alliance with the Congress led by Sonia", he said.

Gavai pointed to provisions onprohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth for citizenship, and said to change these, we have to change the Preamble to the Constitution.

Answering a question, he said Sharad Pawar had contacted him several times in the recent past and requested him to support the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). "But I firmly told him that it would not be possible for us to support him", he said.

According to him, several members of the national executive raised the question whether the RPI should support the forces dividing the secular votes in the country. Kawade, who was present at the meeting, however, preferred to maintain silence on the issue.

Meanwhile, senior RPI leaders met Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence on Monday and discussed the continuation of an alliance with her.

The RPI had entered into an electoral alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in the last election and had sought alliances in other statestoo.

Gavai, who attended the meeting, said Gandhi responded very well. Ramdas Athawale, Shivram Mogha, Sumantrao Gaikwad and Gangadhar Gade too participated in the discussion. "We insisted on at least six Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and a few seats in other states for the forthcoming elections", he said and claimed that Gandhi responded ``positively'' to the suggestion. According to him, Athawale and other senior party colleagues were satisfied with discussions with the Congress chief.

Answering another question, he said there was no need to hold discussions with Sharad Pawar on an electoral alliance. "If we enter into an alliance with the Pawar faction it would be against the principles Dr Ambedkar stood for", he said, and added that meetings among party functionaries were on to prevent a split in the party on the issue.