After a very public spat with DAP's deputy secretary-general P Ramasamy, national chairperson Karpal Singh says he prefers the crisis to be resolved through internal channels.

"We will solve this matter internally. I can assume that stern action will be taken, even if you are high up in the hierarchy, if gag orders are breached," said Karpal.

He was responding to intervention from party stalwart Lim Kit Siang in another open row involving Perak party leader's Nga Kor Ming and M Kulasegaran.

NONE Karpal said this when asked at a press conference yesterday on his call for Court of Appeal judge Abdul Malik Ishak's resignation for keeping mum on the allegation of  plagiarism made against him.

Karpal ( right) and Ramasamy were at loggerheads after the latter alluded to Karpal as a "godfather" in the party during the run-up to the Penang DAP's convention early this month.

Karpal shot back by tagging Ramasamy a "warlord". The dispute was purportedly resolved after a three-person committee decided that the war of words had got out of hand following misreporting by the Tamil vernacular daily Makkal Osai .

Kicking up another storm

A week later, Ramasamy again raised a storm when national daily The Star reported him as saying that there was a plot to oust him from the state government as he had rejected overtures for projects and contracts.

This led to Karpal's outburst, demanding that Ramasamy resigns as Penang's deputy chief minister for not toeing the DAP central executive committee's (CEC) directive not to make public statements on the party or to openly attack its leaders.

NONE This time, Ramasamy (left) turned on the newspaper, accusing it of having doctored his quotes and claimed he never uttered those words.

He i nitiated legal proceedings yesterday, demanding an apology and retraction from The Star in the next seven days.

Asked if he would retract his call for Ramasamy's resignation, Karpal side-stepped the question, saying he too "must abide by the gag orders".

"I went by the press reports. The rest is between him and The Star ," he added.