Members of the newly-formed Reformed Patriotic Democrats (RPD), which claims to be a breakaway faction of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), are said to have close links with the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC).

According to the Daily Guide, a highly-placed source described the party's formation as a political prank to throw pigeons into the NPP in the heat of electioneering campaigns.

'They are not known members of the NPP and always resurface with the old trick, which they tried two years ago" the paper quoted the source as saying.

According to the unnamed source, one of the members of the group unsuccessfully applied for a timber concession, while another tried to infiltrate the NPP by contesting the position of youth organizer two years ago but lost.

Meanwhile the paper said, a number of presidential aspirants of the NPP, whom Mr. Kwabena Adjei, interim national chairman of RPD, mentioned as those supporting their cause, have denied links with the group.

Adjei told the Daily Guide last Friday, just after collecting an interim certificate from the Electoral Commission (EC) that the party's intention was to poach the younger aspirants in the ruling party's flagbearership race, preferably those that were 60 years and below.

He claimed that elders, such as Hon. J.H. Mensah and Council of State chairman, Professor Adjei Bekoe, were stumbling blocks in their path to progress.

He further mentioned presidential contenders like Kwabena Agyepong, Dan Botwe, Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Kofi Konadu Apraku, Alan Kyerematen, Arthur Kennedy, Boakye Agyarko, Captain Effah-Dartey and others as some of the aspirants who had caught their eye.

But in a swift rebuttal of the claims, Mr. Kwabena Agyei Agyepong, former presidential press secretary, vehemently denied that he had any links, remotely or closely, to the RPD, and categorically dismissed the claims that he was connected with a group that was breaking away from the NPP.

He said the claim should be dismissed with the contempt it deserved, adding that the names published as leading the group were not known in the NPP.

"My long-standing reputation in the party is a matter of public record since 1992, therefore want to assure all patriotic party faithful that my allegiance to the NPP is total. The party is larger than any individual, and will become even stronger after congress," he stressed.

Describing the current flagbearership contest as purely internal, he reiterated his utmost respect for the maturity of the party's Electoral College and the verdict they would deliver on December 22, 2007.

"Who is Kwabena Adjei to poach me?" he shot back when he first read Daily Guide's exclusive story last Saturday.

He revealed that two years ago, the group attempted a similar rift in the NPP in Kumasi but were rebuffed.

"It's close to election time and they are trying to fly another kite to draw attention to themselves," a fuming Kwabena Agyepong said and warned the group to desist from using his name to give their party credibility.

"I am a full-blooded member of the NPP and everyone knows my credentials in the party. I was the 4th person to file my nomination papers and I have embarked on a campaign to lead the party into the 2008 elections," he said.