In a bid to buy peace with dissidents, beleaguered Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday sent one of his key advisers on leave but the rebels are understood to have rejected the overture and insisted on nothing less than a change of leadership.

The dissidents led by Agriculture Minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal had been demanding the scalp of B I S Chahal, the chief minister's media adviser. He has proceeded on three month's leave, official sources in Chandigarh said.

Chahal, who is believed to have played a key role in Amarinder Singh becoming chief minister, has of late come under fire from several state Congress leaders, including Bhattal. They allege that the Punjab administration is being run by a coterie loyal to Amarinder. The dissidents had also demanded the ouster of the chief minister's Principal Secretary S K Sinha and Political Secretary Rana Sodhi.

On a day of hectic consultations to resolve the crisis in the party's state unit, a three-member AICC committee headed by Manmohan Singh is understood to have proposed a compromise formula under which Chahal, Sinha and Sodhi would be eased out.

While Chahal would be asked to go on leave, Sinha and Sodhi would be removed in 'due course', sources in both the camps said.

But a belligerent dissident camp is understood to have turned down the compromise offer and made it clear that it would not settle for anything less than the removal of Amarinder Singh.

The sources said Amarinder Singh even offered to induct former chief minister Beant Singh's wife into his ministry but did not find any takers. Beant Singh's son, Tej Prakash, is the Transport Minister in his government while the late chief minister's daughter Gulkomal Kaur is an MLA loyal to Bhattal.

The pace of confabulations gathered pace as the deadline set by the dissidents for a leadership change ticked away with MLAs of both factions holding separate meetings with the three-member AICC committee.

Bhattal, who had reportedly planned to ask MLAs loyal to her to quit the Amarinder Singh ministry if the high command did not remove the chief minister by Tuesday, had a 'strategy' session with her supporters in the morning.

Amarinder Singh met Mohsina Kidwai and Ahmed Patel - members of the AICC panel - to sort out the issue and had a separate meeting with Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief H S Hanspal.

Hanspal also met the dissidents and the AICC leaders separately. "Closed door meetings were held at various levels and the party high command is trying to work out a solution to end the crisis," he said.