House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) emphasized his independence from a super PAC founded by former aides after that group invested on behalf of Sen. Richard Lugar in Tuesday's Indiana primary.

Cantor sought to distance himself from the intraparty battle between Lugar and state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, who appears poised to unseat the veteran senator in today's primary.

"First of all I have not gotten involved in that race, and this is an outside group that I have no control over," Cantor told NBC News.

Politico reported last monththat the Young Guns Network, the Super PAC and 501(c)3 spearheaded by former aides to Cantor and Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) spent $100,000 on mailers in support of Lugar.

The ad buy upset many conservative Republicans who had looked to Mourdock as a more palatable alternative to the relatively more moderate Lugar.

Cantor declined to actively endorse Lugar on Tuesday saying, “I think our party is a party of ideas and we're out there in an active debate over the direction of this country. But one thing that brings us all together is that this government has grown entirely too big and we have an impending deficit and debt situation that we have got to address.”

A GOP campaign operative called Cantor’s move “wise” and said any further connection to Lugar would “hurt him with the activist base of the party.”

Mitt Romney will stay neutral in the Indiana Senate primary, one of the biggest battles in 2012 between establishment Republicans and the insurgent, conservative wing of the GOP.

A Romney campaign official said Friday that the former Massachusetts governor has no plans to endorse either six-term Sen. Richard Lugar, or his challenger, state Treasurer Richard Mourdock, in the May 8 primary.

MSNBC.com's Tom Curry writes Friday of the upcoming showdown:

As Lugar struggles to fend off Mourdock’s challenge, Democrats hope their candidate, Rep. Joe Donnelly, will profit from the GOP schism and pick up the incumbent’s seat in November.

That schism, between the party's establishment and conservative wing, is on full display in Indiana. Tea Party groups like FreedomWorks have backed Mourdock, as did the fiscally conservative Club for Growth.

But Republicans like Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have endorsed Lugar, setting up a proxy fight between the two wings of the GOP in a couple of weeks.

Romney has generally steered clear of involvement in Senate primaries this cycle as he had focused on winning his own presidential primary. However, he backed Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch -- another veteran Republican targeted by the GOP's Tea Party wing -- against conservative challengers in this primary season.

Democrats have also complained about the neutrality of Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, a recognized conservative who's seeking the Hoosier State's governorship, in the primary.