‘Support the Penang MIC women chief or else….’

Penang MIC women's division unhappy with newly appointed chief say they were 'threatened' when told to attend a 'show of support' event.

GEORGE TOWN: Some MIC women leaders claim they had allegedly been ‘threatened’ with disciplinary action if they failed to attend a media show of support for the newly appointed Penang MIC women chief S Muthurani at the party state office here tonight.

Bagan MIC women wing chief S Mugaambigai, 33, claims she had been told by several division women leaders that they were told by a certain division leader to attend the event to show-case the unity of  the Penang MIC women’s division in front of the media.

Mugaambigai said the division leader had apparently cautioned them and said they may face disciplinary action if they did not attend.

“If this is not a threat, what do you call it? This division leader has no respect for us as women leaders.

“We should not be forced and threatened to support someone,” Mugaambigai told FMT via telephone.

Petition by nine submitted

State MIC chairman M Karuppanan said he had no knowledge of such happenings.

“Anyway I will check on it,” he told FMT.

He said that several divisions, excluding his state liaison committee, had taken the initiative to organise tonight’s event to forge unity amongst the MIC women leaders and the MIC state members.

He also denied any knowledge of a petition submitted by nine division women leaders urging the party national leadership to remove Muthurani as the state MIC women chief.

The nine were Mugaambigai, S Praymah of Nibong Tebal, M Maliga of Tasek Gelugor, A Letchumy of Batu Kawan, N Deviga of Bukit Mertajam, S Suguna Devi of Bukit Gelugor, A Thangamalar of Bayan Baru, K Nagesuari of Balik Pulau and R Prema of Jelutong.

In their petition dated Feb 17, the group of nine had urged national party president G Palanivel to replace Muthurani, citing her as “an inexperienced person, who had parachuted from nowhere to helm the state women leadership”.

They blamed Karuppanan and national women leader M Mohana for choosing Muthurani over more senior and capable division women leaders.

They said Karuppanan and Mohana had shown utter disrespect for their positions as division women leaders with the appointing of Muthurani without prior discussions with them.

They argued that by political convention, the state women chief should be chosen from current division women leaders.

Muthurani was elected as Bukit Gelugor division deputy women chief during last year’s party polls.

Even Muthurani’s own division women chief Suguna is against the appointment of S Muthurani.

When contacted, Nibong Tebal’s Praymah confirmed that the petition had been submitted to the national leadership.

She vehemently denied Muthurani’s accusation that several women leaders were forced to sign the petition.

“Is Muthurani saying that the division women leaders don’t know what they are signing? The women leaders signed the petition voluntarily,” insisted Praymah.

Karuppanan denied that he appointed Muthurani and insisted that it was the president’s decision.

But, several division leaders told FMT that Palanivel had told them that he did not make the decision to appoint Muthurani.

Despite the strong opposition against Muthurani’s appointment, the state MIC leadership is still bullish in mustering enough support for Muthurani, commonly known as Kavitha.

On Tuesday night, a dinner was organised by certain state MIC leaders to show support for Muthurani.

Four division women leaders from Bukit Bendera, Tanjung, Kepala Batas and Batu Kawan turned up while Permatang Pauh division women wing was represented by its deputy leader Prem Kaur.

With the presence of division leaders and representatives from Bukit Mertajam, Tasek Gelugor and Bukit Gelugor, Karuppanan is convinced that eight out of 13 divisions in the state support Muthurani’s leadership.

“I can say she has the majority support,” said Karuppanan.

The state leadership hopes that this evening’s media show would confirm this statement.

But insiders cautioned that the spate over Muthurani’s appointment has exposed a deep divide in the women’s section under Karuppanan’s leadership.

They said Karuppanan would not be able to forge close ties with many divisions if he continued to retain Muthurani as the women chief.

“This is not good for MIC to restore the lost confidence of the Indian public in Penang,” warned an insider.