The party’s Central Working Committee (CWC) also agreed to reinstate former Petaling Jaya Selatan MIC division V. Subramaniam or “Bharat Maniam” back into the party. Bharat Maniam was previously sacked by former president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu when he criticised the party leadership.
Another member, former Hulu Selangor MIC deputy chairman V. S. Chandran, was also reinstated into the party after his suspension term expired. Chandran had contested against MIC’s P. Kamalanathan for the Hulu Selangor seat during the by-election last year but pulled out at the last minute and the latter went on to win the polls.
Interestingly, Murugessan, who was still retained as a CWC member despite his sacking, replaces Kamalanathan for the information chief post.
Murugessan was fired from his secretary-general post last year after he questioned Samy Vellu’s decision to expel several leaders.
Kamalanathan was selected as a candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election last year after both Umno and MIC came at loggerheads over who should contest.
Palanivel, then the MIC deputy president, was at first touted as the likely candidate as he was the seat’s four-term MP but this was said to have been rejected by Umno.
At the time, media reports said that the ruling party wanted former MIC deputy youth chief V. Mugilan to stand instead.
Kamalanathan was chosen as the compromise candidate and Palanivel was given a deputy minister’s post and made a senator in the Najib Administration.
Mugilan was sacked by Samy Vellu later in the year after he pushed for an early retirement from the veteran leader.
When contacted today, Murugessan told The Malaysian Insider that he believed Palanivel’s decision to replace Kamalanathan was not born out of revenge or spite.
“I think it was just about the delegation of duties,” he said.
Kamalanathan, he added, was still retained as the MIC Putera national coordinator.
Murugessan, however, admitted that his appointment had come as a surprise as he had not been informed earlier.
“It was a pleasant surprise and I thank the president for placing his confidence in me. It shows he is serious about making real changes in MIC,” he said.
Murugessan said that Palanivel underlined the scope of his duties as the information chief, and added that he was tasked to strengthen internal communication within the party.
“I am to strengthen our internal spread of information and make sure decisions and key information reach our grassroots,” he said.
Murugessan also confirmed that the party had received appeal letters from Mugilan, and two other sacked leaders – G. Kumar Aamaan and K. P. Samy – both of whom had been expelled after calling for Samy Vellu’s early retirement.
“But the CWC did not have time to deliberate over their appeals as they only sent them in yesterday. We deliberated over Bharat Maniam’s appeal and the CWC agreed to reinstate him,” he said.
Today’s CWC meeting, the first for the year, was held in Segamat this morning.
Palanivel, however, contrasted his bold moves today by appointing Vel Paari, Samy Vellu’s son, as the new media bureau chief, in charge of new media like social networking sites Twitter, Facebook and others.
Tan Sri K. S. Nijhar was appointed chairman of the party’s organising committee which will look into all issues affecting the Indian community.
Deputy Minister and Cameron Highlands MP Datuk S.K. Devamany was appointed the head of the bureau in charge of small medium enterprises.
“What is significant with these appointments is that the president is paying attention and looking at the direction of the economic welfare of the Indian community,” said Murugessan. - Malaysian Insider
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.