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Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has urged the party leadership to allow him freedom to take decisions, else he will give a befitting reply.
The Congress, however, said state chiefs are free to take their decisions within the party's norms and constitution.
Harish Rawat, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary in-charge of party affairs in Punjab, said if the state chiefs will not take decisions, who else will.
Sidhu had said earlier that the party high command should give him the freedom to take decisions and he will ensure that the Congress remains in power in Punjab for the next 20 years.
He said he has prepared a roadmap in this regard.
"The party high command should allow me the freedom to take decisions, else I will give a befitting reply," he said addressing a meeting in Amritsar.
Asked about Sidhu's remarks, Rawat told reporters in New Delhi, "I will see the context in which Navjot Singh Sidhu has made these remarks. Mr Sidhu is the respected chief of the Punjab unit. Who will have the power to take decisions if not the state presidents."
Rawat, however, said state presidents are free to take decisions within the party's constitution and in accordance with its position.
Sidhu's adviser Malwinder Singh Mali quit from the post after his controversial remarks on Kashmir.
Amid infighting in the Punjab Congress, a number of MLAs and eight MPs attended a dinner in Chandigarh on Thursday in a show of strength in support of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.
Sidhu and Singh have been at loggerheads and have been making public statements against each other. Punjab is slated to go for assembly elections early next year.