Waytha gets more hammering from former cabinet colleagues

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein and Deputy Education Minister II P. Kamalanathan have joined in the attack on P. Waytha Moorthy following the latter's resignation from the cabinet, calling the Hindraf leader insincere and selfish for throwing in the towel.

Kamalanathan (pic) said Waytha had no right to heap the blame on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak as Putrajaya was still taking care of the community's needs, such as improving the Tamil school education system.

"He has no right to criticise someone (Najib) who is always giving something to the Indian community and implementing various transformation and continuing to assist them in many ways," Kamalanathan was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He said Waytha should be a team player and work to defend the needs and rights of the community.

In a series of Tweets, Hishammuddin said the former deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department quit his post to "cover up his own failure".

"Waytha's move to blame the government and Najib Razak is a political ploy to cover up his own failure in fighting for Malaysian Indians.

"It clearly proved that he is insincere in championing the cause of the Indian community holistically, as he claimed before this," Hishamuddin tweeted, which he tagged Housing and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and MIC.

He said the resignation, which came nine months after Waytha's appointment to Najib's cabinet, showed that Waytha was "insincere and selfish".

The Umno vice-president pointed out that making transformational changes for the community takes more than nine months, while pledging that the BN would continue to help the community "with or  without Waytha".

"BN is sincere in helping the Indian community. This is not about just one man or one group's struggle," Hishammuddin (pic) added.

Yesterday, Waytha came under attack from Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaludin, saying his methods of effecting change were not according to procedures.

"Fact is, Waytha demanded all government budget for Indian community be parked under his discretion. That's not how government operates.

"Waytha wanted to control the money, bypassing ministries and agencies. When he didn't get this, he quit and blamed PM," Khairy had tweeted.

In reply, Waytha described Khairy's claim as "irritational defence" of his boss, saying it was immature and imprudent.

"Would he be able to perform if his ministry’s budget is taken away and he is expected to function as the Youth and Sports Minister?” he shot back at Khairy.

Waytha quit his post, saying Najib had failed to deliver on his promises to the Indians. He said the prime minister had lost all "moral authority" to lead the country. Earlier this week, he apologised to the Indian community for his failure to improve their livelihoods.

Calling Najib a "weak leader", Waytha accused him of further lying to all Malaysians when he claimed he did not discuss his resignation with the prime minister.

"I wish to state here that over the last eight months, I had at least 16 meetings with him at his office in Putrajaya. In each of these meetings, I kept pushing for the naming of a new unit which he promised I was going to head as well as the necessary budget that was agreed on," he had said.