KUALA LUMPUR, April 5- In less than 48 hours after claiming he was a winnable candidate if fielded in the coming general election, Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu suffered defeat – as his hopes of making a comeback were dashed. He will not be a candidate in the 13th General Election (GE13).
This was confirmed by MIC president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel that the former long-standing party chief would not contest in the polls. He said Samy Vellu, who is Barisan Nasional (BN) coordinator for Sungai Siput, had been hard at work in ensuring the BN wrest back the seat which was lost in the last general election in 2008.
“Datuk Seri Samy Vellu has been working hard in Sungai Siput to garner support from the people…but he will not be a candidate,” Palanivel said in a text messge to Bernama today.
Samy Vellu had confidently declared that he was candidate material in GE13, following the dissolution of the Dewan Rakyat announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak on Wednesday.
“I am a winnable candidate, there’s no doubt about it. I am willing to re-contest the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat,” Samy Vellu had declared at an event here on Wednesday.
He was the member of parliament for Sungai Siput for more than three decades since 1974, until he lost his stronghold seat to Dr Michael Jeyakumar Devaraj of the Socialist Party Malaysia (PSM) by a 1,821-vote majority.
“Winnable” candidates is one of the main criteria set by top BN leaders in choosing its candidates to stand in the election.
Samy was also the MIC president for nearly three decades until Palanivel succeeded him in 2010. On the seat allocation for MIC, Palanivel said the party looked set to contest in the nine parliamentary seats and 19 state seats. However, he remained light-tipped on the names of candidates for the 28 seats.
“We are still negotating to swap two state seats in Perak and one in Johor with other Barisan Nasional parties for GE13,” he said. According to media reports, the MIC would give up the Behrang and Pasir Panjang seats and instead, take up Buntong, which consists of a 48 per cent Indian population, and another seat, which was still being negotiated.
BERNAMA
