Guwahati, July 10: Assam PCC chief Anjan Dutta today met AICC president Sonia Gandhi at her residence in New Delhi and discussed a range of issues, including the party's preparation for the 2016 Assembly polls in the state.

All Dutta said was that intra-party issues were discussed threadbare in a conducive and positive atmosphere. He refused to elaborate before mediapersons waiting outside Sonia's residence. Dutta was accompanied by Diganta Choudhury, one of the general secretaries of the PCC. The meeting, which started at 11am and lasted for around 25 minutes, came less than 48 hours after AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi met chief minister Tarun Gogoi, Dutta and former minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Today's meeting assumes significance given the increasing infighting in the ruling party, sources said, adding that Dutta had requested the high command to urgently take a decision on the issue in the greater interest of the party.

There are already reports in a section of the media that the PCC has decided to expel five of its senior members - former MP Bolin Kuli, three-time MLA Hiranya Bora, Diganta Kalita, Adil Shah and Rana Khan. All the five were earlier issued showcause notices by Dutta for allegedly bringing false allegations against him in public and indulging in alleged anti-party activities.

Sources said the PCC took the decision to expel the five after Rahul suggested on Wednesday that it should adopt a zero-tolerance policy against party indiscipline.

Dutta, however, evaded a direct reply to queries by the media in Delhi on the expulsion issue and only said he had not yet signed any expulsion paper. He said the party would take a decision after going through the replies of the showcause notices served on the five leaders. "I will take a call on the issue after reaching Guwahati," he said.

Bora and Kalita, who resigned from the party soon after they were served showcause notices last month, today said they would convene a meeting with other Congress workers and leaders on July 25 or 26 in the city to decide about their future course of action.

"We want to reiterate that Dutta is running the party on his whims and fancies. He has inducted persons with criminal backgrounds in the executive and other committees of the PCC. We still love the Congress but the present circumstances have forced us to leave the party. The Congress will face a debacle in next year's poll with the present leadership. On July 25 or 26, we will discuss with other like-minded leaders the possibility of launching a new party," Kalita told reporters here today.

Khan, who is in the same group with Kalita, said he was hurt with the way Dutta had been dealing with him since he became the president.

"I have been a loyal soldier of the Congress for the past several years. But I have been given a shabby treatment by the present PCC leadership. So I have decided to quit the party," he told reporters.