Solve MIC leadership woes as Palanivel was your choice, Saravanan tells Najib

MIC vice-president Datuk M. Saravanan says Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak should not dismiss the party's leadership woes. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, January 28, 2015.

MIC vice-president Datuk M. Saravanan has appealed to Barisan Nasional chief Datuk Seri Najib Razak to solve the MIC leadership woes, saying the party president was the prime minister's choice and not that of the party members.

Saravanan, who was dropped as Federal Territory liaison chairman, said under party president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel , MIC has descended into chaos, with gangsters having the power to stop party leaders, including himself, from entering the party's headquarters.

"Now prime minister, we have a big problem in MIC, we kept him because he was your choice, he was not the choice of the members.

"So don't push this away as another MIC problem, it will affect BN too," Saravanan said at a press conference outside the MIC headquarters. The entrance to the premises was locked hours earlier by a group said to be aligned to secretary-general Datuk Kumar Amaan.

Saravanan recalled that the arrangement that was made with the prime minister was for former MIC supremo Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu to make way for a new leader.

He said it was agreed then, between Najib and Palanivel, in the presence of Datuk Seri S. Subramaniam, Datuk S. K Devamany and himself, that Palanivel would step down in 2016, six months ahead of party elections for the top leadership.

"We put Palanivel as head at your request to give him a chance for one term, now the 'monster' is killing everyone to the extent of using gangsters in the building," Saravanan, who is also the deputy youth and sports minister, said.

As such, he urged Palanivel to call for a party central working committee meeting within 24 hours and said otherwise, he and his supporters would seek the prime minister's intervention.

"I urge him to call for a CWC meeting, failing which we will march to his house to compel him to do so.

"Otherwise, we will call for one with the support of 15 CWC members and seek the intervention of the PM," Saravanan said.

The CWC meeting, he said, was necessary to solve the brewing issues in the party, including the Registrar of Societies' (RoS) findings that the elections of its central working committee members in 2013 were problematic and that fresh polls should be held.

Other matters which needed attention, Saravan said, was his FT chairman's post and the presence of "gangsters" in the building.

MIC Youth chairman C. Sivaraajh, meanwhile, demanded Palanivel's resignation, claiming that the president was unfit to lead the party.

With the presence of the "gangsters", Sivaraajh said that it was clear that Palanivel had lost control of the party.

"And as such, he won't be able to help BN get back the Indian votes (and) he should resign," the youth chief said.

- TMI