Palani moves to knock off threats to his position

MIC chief dangles Tan Sri-ship 'carrot' to former deputy president Subramaniam to stay out of the party elections.

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president G Palanivel is said to be consolidating his position and is in the midst of eliminating all possible threats.

According to a source, topping the president’s list of threats that needs to be extinguished is none other than former deputy president S Subramaniam.

In the previous two party polls, Palanivel had defeated Subramaniam with the help of the latter’s arch-rival and former president S Samy Vellu.

The source said, both Palanivel and Subramaniam met at the house of VKK Thiagarajan, the ex-MIC FT chief, earlier this year to discuss the party elections.

“Palanivel convinced Subramaniam not to compete for the president’s seat. He promised a Tan Sri-ship for Subra if he does not contest in the upcoming party election,” said the source.

Since taking over the party’s helm, Palanivel has been very tactful in handling the party’s top guns.

“He knew that incumbent deputy president Dr S Subramaniam will go against him in the next election. So, Palani is ensuring that Subramaniam will not lend his support to his rival in the election,” he added.

The source also said that if Subramaniam is awarded a Tan Sri-ship, it will be a loss of face to Samy Vellu. Samy and Subramaniam have been long time political rivals and bitter foes.

The late MIC president V Manickavasagam decided to bring Subramaniam into politics to sideline Samy Vellu.

However, in the 1977 party elections Samy managed to beat Subramaniam by a mere 26 votes to become the deputy president.

“It seem like Subramaniam is happy to be made a Tan Sri. By getting the award, he will be one up on Samy Vellu who is still a Datuk, the source said.

He, however, admitted that Subramaniam still has the desire to head the MIC. According to the source he will not be surprised if Subramaniam contests for the president’s post.

Meanwhile, in another development, the source also claimed that Palanivel had promised almost 40 persons for parliament seats.

He also promised 12 for senatorship and nearly 50 to state assembly seats for the upcoming general election. Currently, MIC has nine parliament seats, 18 assembly seats and five senators.

“I believe that there will be a big scuffle when the president sits down to prepare the party’s candidate list for the general election,” said a prominent leader.