"I have asked the high command to allow me to take decisions and I will ensure that the Congress prospers in the state for the next two decades. Nahin toh eit se eit bajaa doon, (I will not spare the party)," said Navjot Sidhu, who was recently appointed the party's Punjab chief in a tense compromise with Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
Asked to comment on Mr Sidhu's pronouncement at an event in Amritsar yesterday, Congress's Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat reacted cautiously. "I can't question him on the basis of media speculation... I will see the context of the statement. He is party chief, who other than he can take decisions," he said.
Mr Rawat met with Congress president Sonia Gandhi this afternoon, reportedly to brief her on the Punjab mess. He has asked the party to relieve him of the Punjab role, citing the Uttarakhand election next year.
Mr Sidhu's threat was linked directly to Mr Rawat's statement pressing him to sack his advisers for their controversial statements on Pakistan and Kashmir.
"These advisers were not appointed by the party. We have asked Sidhu to dismiss them. If Sidhu does not do that, I will. We do not want people who embarrass the party," Mr Rawat told NDTV on Wednesday.
One of the advisers, Malvinder Singh Mali, quit today.
The row over Mr Sidhu's advisers has erupted just weeks after the Congress brokered a delicate truce between him and Amarinder Singh, to try and end a feud that has endangered the party's prospects in the Punjab election next year.
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