Congress and NCP today sought to downplay the controversy that kicked up after controversial remarks were made about Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi in the NCP-supported magazine Rashtravadi.

"There is no problem between NCP and Congress...We have no difference with the Congress. We are going together in the election," senior NCP leader and Union Minister Praful Patel told reporters today outside Parliament.

"If they have clarified, it is okay," Congress Mumbai President Kripa Shankar Singh said indicating that Congress may not press its demand for an apology from NCP over the issue now.

Patel also sought to disassociate the party from the comments made in the magazine, saying "it (Rashtravadi) is not the mouthpiece of NCP."

"Whatever there (in Rashtravadi) has appeared, may be a completely personal view. NCP disassociates with the view absolutely...We do not share the perspective...We don't subscribe to it," Patel said.

"It (Rashtravadi) is of course a magazine which was initially supported by NCP but not as an official mouthpiece. Today, it is not even being run by the NCP directly...This is not our mouthpiece," he added.

Rashtravadi, widely believed to be NCP's mouthpiece, had in its editorial a few days back attacked Congress Party and its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi, provoking Congress to seek any apology from NCP.

To a query whether NCP will seek apology from Congress on the issue as has been demanded by the grand-old party, Patel said, "There is no question."

"I can apologise if NCP has said something or if NCP spokesman has said something. Even if had it been our mouthpiece, I would have accepted (to apologise)," he reasoned.

Patel, however, denied any danger to its alliance with Congress.

"We are with Congress in government in Maharashtra and Goa as well as here in Delhi...We are going together in the coming Lok Sabha election," Patel said when asked whether the alliance between NCP and Congress is in danger now.

The NCP leader also denied that any meeting had taken place here between his party chief Sharad Pawar and the executive president of Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray.

"Sharad Pawar has not met anybody. I fully deny that any such meeting took place," he said on being asked to comment on media reports of the meeting between Pawar and Thackeray.

Congress leader Kripa Shankar Singh also dismissed the possibility of NCP and Shiv Sena's coming together.

"I do not think they will do so," he said on the possibility of NCP aligning with Shiv Sena, while adding, "We want secular forces to remain united."