Stay neutral, candidates tell Palanivel

The MIC president's move to 'introduce' two candidates at a meeting with delegates from Selangor has turned others vying for the post against him.

PETALING JAYA: MIC chief G Palanivel’s move to ‘introduce’ two of the eight candidates vying for the three vice president seats in the party has got himself in hot soup.

Other candidates are now claiming that the party president was going back on his word of not taking sides in the vice-president race.

“He initially said he will not endorse or support anyone in the veep race, but now he starts attending meetings with some candidates. He says he is there to introduce these candidates.

“If that is the case, why didn’t he introduce all eight candidates. That is fair. The so called introduction session must be stopped once and for all. If he continues this, then we will do whatever it takes to ensure the election is free and fair,” a vice-president aspirant told FMT when contacted.

Eight leaders are fighting for the three veep positions up for grabs at the party polls on Nov 30, in Malacca. They are incumbents Youth and Sports deputy minister M Saravanan and Perak state assembly speaker SK Devamany. Others include former Youth chiefs T Mohan and SA Vigneswaran, party treasurer general Jaspal Singh, former vice-president S Sothinathan, Johor Baharu division leader KS Balakrishnan and Bukit Bintang division leader James Selvarajah.

Palanivel and deputy president Dr S Subramaniam won their positions uncontested under a peace deal brokered by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, who is also the Barisan Nasional chairman a few months ago.

The deal was concluded in the presence of Palanivel, Dr Subramaniam, Saravanan and Devamany.

Under the deal, the president and deputy president would retain their positions uncontested and that they will not take sides in the vice-president contest.

Palanivel’s soon after being elected uncontested as party chief three months ago, declared that the party’s second top post should not be contested in accordance with the peace deal.

He has also said that he will be neutral in the vice-president’s race. This sentiment was echoed by Dr Subramaniam who maintained that he will not throw his support for any of the veep aspirants in-line with the peace deal hammered by Najib.

Dr Subramaniam himself was reported to have said that he hoped that the party president would stay neutral in the race, which also has about 88 candidates vying for 23 central working committee posts in the polls.

Wearing two hats

Party sources claimed that Palanivel had been quietly meeting delegates to the party general assembly telling them to support certain candidates, soon after he returned home from a five day official trip to Poland on Saturday.

The latest was on Sunday when he met delegates from 10 divisions in Selangor at the Bukit Jalil Golf Resort. Delegates who attended the meeting confirm that Palanivel called out names of two vice-president candidates and told delegates that he was supporting them. They were also told to vote for the two candidates.

“He told the delegates they have the freedom to pick the third and last vice-president. He is playing with fire. If all the other candidates gang-up against him, then he is in trouble. They can give him hell throughout his tenure.

“He should not have done that. Furthermore, Palanivel himself lacks support. Out of the 23 divisions in Selangor only 10 attended the meeting. And out of the 10, not all divisions are in support of Palanivel…some came just to hear what he had to say. To be frank they were equally miffed with the president’s move to introduce the two candidates, who are not the favourites.

“His behaviour was totally unacceptable as the party president vowed to stay out of the contest. Now another issue has cropped up. Palanivel is the election committee chairman for the veep and CWC elections.

“If he goes around endorsing someone, then he has to resign from this position or let someone else handle the polls. He cannot be wearing the two hats . If you support a candidate, then resign as the election committee chief,” said a division leader who attended the meeting.

He said Palanivel’s move was also ‘giving rope’ for candidates who lose the veep race to run to the Registrar of Societies to seek redress after the polls.

“He does not realise that although we cannot take the party to court we can still go to the ROS and complain that the polls were neither free nor fair,”said a veep candidate who declined to be named.