PETALING JAYA: With the 13th general election just weeks away, PKR is in the midst of finalising its list of Indian candidates to be fielded as the opposition party candidates at the polls.
Sources close to PKR de facto chief Anwar Ibrahim revealed that several big names would be pushed up to the parliamentary level while some would be dropped.
Party insiders say one of those pushed up would be the Selangor executive councillor Dr Xavier Jayakumar, who is now the Seri Andalas state assemblyman.
“He will be contesting the Kapar parliamentary seat. The incumbent S Manickavasagam would be heading for the Bukit Melawati state seat,” said the source.
If this is true, then it squashes speculation that Xavier would stay put at Seri Andalas.
“Xavier is unlikely to remain in Seri Andalas. Anwar has identified a new face for the state seat. Xavier is almost sure of moving up,” said a source.
PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s silence, on who will be the candidate for the seat, during the state election machinery office launch on Tuesday, strengthened speculation that the candidate would not be Xavier.
“Anwar will probably field R Suresh Kumar, a party member from the Puchong division, as Seri Andalas candidate,” said the source.
It is an open secret that Suresh Kumar, who is former PKR Federal Territory deputy chairman, is very close to both Anwar and Klang-based prominent businessman ‘OMS’ P Thiagarajan.
“With the lobbying of Thiagarajan, Suresh Kumar has a better chance of replacing Xavier in Seri Andalas,” the source added.
Asked of Xavier’s chances of winning the Kapar parliamentary constituency, he said the dentist has a 50-50 chance of clinching the seat; however, this depends on who the Barisan Nasional candidate is.
BN sources claim that Performance Management and Delivery Unit (Pemandu) director D Ravindran has been slated to be the candidate for the seat.
It is learnt that Ravindran was proposed by the top BN leadership despite MIC wanting its Puchong division chief A Sakthi Vel to fight the seat.
Talk is that MIC was at loggerheads with BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor over the Kapar constituency and the BN leader had insisted on Ravindran for Kapar.
Apart from Pemandu, Ravindran also oversees anti-corruption-related initiatives of the National Key Result Areas (NKRA) and also manages the Electrical and Electronics and the Wholesale-Retail Labs under the New Key Economic Areas (NKEA).
PKR has also made a surprise inclusion to its candidates’ list. Former ISA detainee and a member of the Hindraf Five, K Vasantha Kumar, is slatted to contest the Tapah parliamentary seat in Perak.
“This is despite several other names in the list… the party top leadership has decided to parachute-in Vasantha Kumar for Tapah,” said the party insider.
Vasantha Kumar was jailed under the now defunct Internal Security Act (ISA) in 2007 alongside P Uthayakumar, M Manoharan, R Kenghadharan and V Ganabatirau.
It is learnt that the PKR election machinery was ready to be activated to wrest the Tapah seat from MIC vice-president M Saravanan, who is also Federal Territory and Urban Wellbeing deputy minister.
