New Delhi, Jul 8 (IANS): Senior Congress leader and a G-23 member Anand Sharma has denied meeting BJP chief J.P. Nadda.

The meeting was said to have taken place on Thursday. Sources said that Sharma spoke to Nadda over the phone on some programme related issue where both of them are the invitees.

After the news spread, Sharma tried to put all speculation to rest and said as Nadda hails from the same state and university they have social and family ties.

He said that the Himachal University alumni had invited both of them to a programme. Both spoke about it and there were only ideological differences and no personal enmity, he added.

While asserting that if he had to meet Nadda he would do so openly. Sharma is a prominent leader of the Congress and an important member of G-23, which has been pushing for reforms in the party.

Sharma has been maintaining distance after being ignored for the Rajya Sabha, and most recently was absent from the 'Satyagraha' called by the Congress party against the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which has been questioning Rahul Gandhi in the National Herald case.

The tension is simmering within Congress since the names of Congress veteran leaders like Ghulam Nabi Azad, Anand Sharma and Veerappa Moily did not figure in the Rajya Sabha candidate's list.

The Congress has tried to accommodate them in various forms like the political affairs group, Task Force 2024 and committee for 'Bharat Jodo Yatra'.