Trouble in MIC over Palani’s stance

Party boss told to be clear about whether he is endorsing anyone for vice president.

PETALING JAYA: An MIC leader today demanded that party president G Palanivel state clearly that he has no preferences among the candidates vying for vice presidential positions.

Palanivel had been making confusing statements about the issue, said the party leader, who declined to be named.

“Last night, at a meeting with delegates from Perak in Ipoh, the president said he was not supporting anyone in the vice president race,” the source told FMT. “But this morning he held a meeting with the Selangor MIC liaison committee and declared that he was in support of two candidates in particular.”

The source claimed he was at today’s meeting, which he said was held at the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and attended only by members of the Selangor liaison committee.

“Who is he trying to bluff? I am sure he knows things like this leak out. One day, he says he is not supporting anyone, then the very next day, just after 12 hours, he says he is backing the two candidates.”

The two, according to the source, are party treasurer general Jaspal Singh and former youth chief SA Vigneswaran. Palanivel also mentioned them last Saturday at a meeting with Selangor delegates who will vote at the election on Nov 30.

Jaspal and Vigneswaran are among eight candidates fighting for the three vice presidential positions. The others are Youth and Sports Deputy Minister M Saravanan, Perak state assembly speaker SK Devamany, former youth chief T Mohan, former vice president S Sothinathan, Johor Baharu MIC division leader KS Balakrishnan and Bukit Bintang division leader James Selvarajah. Saravanan and Devamany are incumbents.

Soon after the Saturday meeting, several of the aspirants contacted FMT to voice their displeasure over Palanivel’s open endorsement of the two candidates.

Palanivel had told the meeting that he was not endorsing them but was merely introducing them to the delegates.

“There was not need for him to introduce the two because Vigneswaran is from Selangor and not a new MIC member contesting for the post and Jaspal has been the treasurer general for the last three years,” said FMT’s source. “Everybody in the party, including grassroots members, know who they are.

“If he is sincere, then he must once and for all say he is not supporting anyone in the race.”

Peace deal
Palanivel and his deputy, Dr S Subramaniam, won their positions uncontested as part of a peace deal brokered by Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and finalised last August. Another part of the deal stipulates that neither Palanivel nor Dr Subramaniam should take sides in the veep race.

Dr Subramaniam, who is on medical leave following a road accident last week, is yet to comment on the latest turn of events.

Observers say Najib’s peace plan was in danger of being torn up.

“The plan was put in place so that there will not be a split in the party,” said an observer who declined to be named. “But if the president takes sides, then the other candidates may revolt and this will eventually divide the party. Some may even cross over to the opposition and this will give a bigger headache for Najib and Barisan Nasional.

“Instead of keeping the party united, Najib’s peace plan may just divide and weaken the party further because of Palanivel’s action.”

However, several party leaders close to some of the vice presidential candidates said Palanivel might just be trying to “please everybody” although he was not doing it well.

“He knows things will go out of control if he announces his choice of veep candidates,” said one source. “People like Saravanan, Devamany and Mohan are not going to take this quietly. There will be a revolt and he knows it.

“Those three can do a lot of damage to Palanivel and the party. Can you imagine if they leave the party to become independent? They need not even jump over to the opposition. The repercussions on the party and Palanivel would be considerable.

“But before they do that, they will surely sully Palanivel’s leadership and character. This is not good for MIC and the Barisan Nasional.”

More trouble
The party’s decision today to suspend the MIC Youth polls results too did not go down well with many of the candidates vying for leadership slots in the party polls.

These leaders claimed Palanivel had “shot himself in his foot” by suspending the MIC Youth polls on grounds of irregularities, including the possibility of having bankrupt and phantom voters.

The decision to suspend the outcome was announced by party secretary-general A Saktivel at the MIC headquarters today.

Following this suspension, a total of 38 youth delegates will not be allowed to cast their votes in the upcoming party elections on Nov 30.

“This is quite strange. Who is actually at fault here? Isn’t it the party HQ for failing to monitor the delegates?” asked a CWC candidate.

He further said that the party should also look into the number of bankrupt candidates who were involved in nominating Palanivel for the presidency.

“Will he stand down pending an inquiry?” he further asked.

Another senior party leader said with this latest development, the best thing Palanivel could do was to postpone the party elections until the mess was cleared.

Meanwhile, a source close to C Sivarraajh who won the Youth chief’s post by defeating V Mugilan by 44 votes, said they were contemplating of taking the matter to the Registrar of Societies (ROS).