After Zaid, PKR faces another rebel leader

Still smarting from the uproar caused by Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s recent departure, PKR now has to deal with yet another party rebel — N. Gobalakrishnan.

The Padang Serai MP went on a rampage against the party leadership via microblogging site Twitter over the past week, centering most of his attacks on the party’s de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and newly-elected deputy president Azmin Ali.

He told The Malaysian Insider today that both Anwar and Azmin have been “cheating and bluffing the Indians”, claiming that the community had become worst off after Pakatan Rakyat claimed Selangor.

This, he alleged, was because Anwar, with Azmin as his sidekick, called the shots in the PR government and his decisions superceded even those of Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

“Anwar promises this and that, everything. He can even promise you the sky and the moon but he does nothing.

“After two and a half years of Pakatan rule in Selangor, nothing has been done for the Indians. In fact, they have only been treated worst.... worst than when they were under BN,” he told The Malaysian Insider this morning.

PKR is still smarting from an internal leadership strife during its fractious polls last month, which was allegedly fraught with irregularities.

BN leaders have been using the crisis to their benefit by claiming it proved discord in the opposition, and will likely use it again as their ammunition in the coming Tenang by-election.

Gobalakrishnan’s latest barrage of attacks is seen by several party members as adding salt to an already festering wound for PKR, whose popularity plummeted because of the polls.

Despite this, in Twitter over the past week, the outspoken MP continuously accused Anwar of mistreating party loyalists for the sake of promoting Azmin, who is said to be the de facto leader’s right-hand man in the party.

In one post on Christmas day, Gobalakrishnan lamented that even Mustaffa Kamil Ayub, Azmin’s contender in the deputy presidency race, had been sidelined despite his years of sacrifice for Anwar.

“Anwar, you shouldnt have waited all this yrs to show signs that if we cant work with Azmin we become your enemies,” he tweeted.

He also said, “We have talked to you many times about all this but you only listen to Azmin. What is so great in Azmin that we r not.”

Gobalakrishnan also underlined several issues to prove his accusations that the powerful duo and the party leadership had been “cheating” the Indian community.

Among others, the MP spoke about the apparent closure of the Sivan Temple on Bukit Gasing and the plight of the evicted familes in the Coalfield estate in Sungai Buloh.

He also accused Selangor state executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar of cheating by approving a RM85,000 bill to purchase 24 computers for each Tamil school via three crony suppliers.

Gobalakrishnan told The Malaysian Insider today that it was Dr Xavier who had decided to channel the state government’s RM4 million allocation to Tamil schools through three Indian non-governmental organisations.

“But aid for Chinese schools and Islamic religious schools are channelled directly. Why should funds for Tamil schools be given through these NGOs?” he said.

He added that he had complained of the matter to Anwar but the latter had not acted, despite claiming that the party had plans to take disciplinary action against Dr Xavier.

“I told Anwar about this after the party elections but he told me — do not talk about Xavier... we will be taking action against him.

“And then what does he do? He appoints Xavier to the political bureau. So no action, just a promotion,” Gobalakrishnan said.

The MP also claimed that the appointment of lawyer N. Surendran as vice-chairman had been unconstitutional as the latter was not even a party member.

This morning, Gobalakrishnan tweeted, “Confirmed Surendran is Non member. Lembah Pantai membership list also criss crossed.”

Despite his attacks however, Gobalakrishnan claimed that he had no plans to leave PKR.

In an SMS on Saturday, he said, “Leave PKR for what? I built PKR.”

He confirmed with The Malaysian Insider this morning that he would not leave the party and was willing to face any disciplinary action for his attacks.

“I am a reformist. I am tweeting to show them the weaknesses that they should correct.

“They can take any action against me but they better do it properly,” he said.

He warned the PKR leadership that if they failed to follow proper procedures to punish him, he would take the matter to court.

“I will defend myself. And these issues of mine are not just out of the blue... I have been saying these things for the longest time.

“I am a reformist... I left MIC, joined PKR... I went into lockup because of Anwar. I sacrficed myself because I thought the struggle of Anwar will benefit the Indian community,” he said.

He claimed that Anwar had failed to “walk the talk”, adding that there was no future for any Indian leader in PKR except those who were close to the latter.

Gobalakrishnan also continued to complain about the party’s polls, and questioned why the vote tally for the leadership posts had not been revealed.

“Until today, they have not released the votes that we obtained from every division. I do not know how many votes I got,

“I even called (PKR secretary-general) Saifuddin (Nasution) last week and he said I should write in officially but why should I? This is an election and we are supposed to be ‘Keadilan’ so where is the justice?” he said.

Gobalakrishnan had failed to make the cut in his bid to be vice-president during the party’s polls and was not appointed into the post by the party leadership.

Instead, Surendran, former MCA vice president Datuk Chua Jui Meng and Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian were appointed as vice-presidents.

As such, talk is rife now that Gobalakrishnan’s latest onslaught of attacks against the party leadership was due to his frustration at not being appointed.

But the rebel MP denied this today, claiming that he never lobbied for the post and was not attacking the party to provoke a sacking and gain popularity.

“I never wanted to be appointed as a vice-president. I never lobbied because I knew the whole election was manipulated. I can even prove it,” he said.