CWC must ‘kick out’ Palanivel

A former MIC man has called on the 'toothless tigers' in the powerful committee to push a vote of no confidence against their president.

KLANG: A former MIC branch chairman has urged the party Central Working Committee members to push for a no-confidence vote against their president G Palanivel.

VT Rajen, who was MIC Taman Mujur chief, said Palanivel must be ousted in order to give the party a fighting chance in the next general election.

Speaking to FMT, he also reieterated that he would challenge the president if the latter contested in the polls.

He also warned that if Palanivel remained at the helm, MIC would break into various camps and thus weaken the party further.

He pointed out that until today, the president did not possess the courage to predict how many seats MIC would win in the election.

“He is a person who blows his own trumpet claiming that Indian support has swung back to Barisan Nasional, which is not true at all,” he said.

Claiming that the community’s support was still below the red zone, Rajen alleged that one of the reasons for this was MIC’s weak leadership.

“Just look at the matriculation seats issue. It is a clear that Palanivel has not done his homework as a community leader,” he added.

In February, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak announced that 1,500 matriculation seats would be given to Indian students.

However, opposition leaders and NGOs zeroed in on the issue following complaints that students with good grades failed to secure a seat.

“Despite, the community asking MIC to reveal the list of Indian students awarded the matriculation seats, Palanivel has failed to disclose the list,” said Rajen.

‘Using PM to save himself’

The former MIC man also warned that another “Palanivel tactic” would backfire on both MIC and BN.

Rajen said the president had attempted to cement his position by promising parliament and state assembly seats to almost all the division and branch chairmen.

“But to save himself, he tells candidates not aligned to him that the prime minister has rejected their candidacy,” he said, adding that this could prompt those sidelined to sabotage BN during the polls and frustrate Najib’s aim to secure a two-thirds parliamentary majority.

“Division and branch chairmen are the heart of any party. In MIC, they are frustrated after being ‘cheated’ by Palanivel,” he said.

Meanwhile, he claimed that the CWC composed of “toothless tigers” who functioned more like an executive committee to rubber stamp the president’s decision.

“All party-related issues are finalised by a group led by a veteran leader from Subang. The entire party is controlled by four individuals,” he said, refusing to disclose their names.

“So the CWC members must act immediately to save the party from Palanivel and his cronies,” he added.