Palani: Samy a winnable candidate

The MIC president also raised questions over the fate of Kamalanathan in Hulu Selangor by refusing to confirm his candidacy.

KUALA LUMPUR: MIC president G Palanivel yesterday appeared to share S Samy Vellu’s assertion that the former party chief is a “winnable candidate” if fielded in the upcoming general election.

However, Palanivel said it was up to Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to decide whether Samy Vellu should be given a second chance to recapture the Sungai Siput parliamentary constituency in the general election.

“He (Samy Vellu) is a winnable candidate,” Palanivel, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, told reporters after chairing the party’s central working committee meeting, here.

Palanivel said MIC had proposed a list of prospective candidates to stand in the elections to Najib, who is Barisan Nasional chairman.

On Wednesday, former long-serving MIC president Samy Vellu declared himself a winnable candidate for the Sungai Siput seat should he be picked to contest there.

Samy Vellu, currently Malaysia’s special envoy to India and South Asia for infrastructure, lost his long-held parliamentary constituency of Sungai Siput in the 2008 general election to Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj of the Socialist Party, by a 1,821-vote majority.

Palanivel also confirmed that he, his deputy Dr S Subramaniam, and two vice presidents M Saravanan and KS Devamany would be contesing in four parliamentary seats.

The remaining five seats will see new faces, he added, immediately raising questions on the fate of Hulu Selangor MP P Kamalanathan.

“Hulu Selangor is a winnable seat but we can’t announce the candidate. Only the prime minister can,” he said.

In the last general election, MIC contested in these parliament seats: Tapah (won by Saravanan), Sungai Siput (lost by Samy Vellu), Hulu Selangor (Palanivel defeated but seat won back by Kamalanathan in a by-election), Kapar, Kota Raja, Subang, Segamat (won by Dr Subramaniam), Teluk Kemang and Cameron Highlands (won by Devamany).

This time around Palanivel is expected to contest in Cameron Highlands, moving off Devamany to Sungai Siput.

Samy Vellu is the BN coordinator for Sungai Siput and in recent weeks has been increasingly adding fuel to speculations by stating that he stood a better chance to win back Sungai Siput than Devamany.

Palanivel also said that MIC was presently in talk with BN component parties to swap two state seats in Perak and one state seat in Johor.

- Bernama