Petaling Jaya, Feb 7- While the MIC central working committee yesterday decided against a re-election, to pick three vice presidents and 23 central working committee members, the party’s two vice presidents had a head on clash yesterday marking a wider division in MIC.
The two vice-presidents, S Sothinathan, the former Teluk Kemang member of pariiament, and M Saravanan, the Youth and Sports deputy minister and Tapah member of parliament, sources revealed, were involved in a verbal tirade after Sothinathan tried to interrupted Saravanan, who had argued that the party should look into complaints of election malpractice at the party polls last November.
“Saravanan was saying his piece. He wanted the party to be serious in looking at the election offences. He also questioned why there were discrepancies in the number of votes and the number of delegates who actually voted.
“He also questioned a number of things which were not right at the election. While he was presenting, Sothinathan kept interrupting. After a while Saravanan told Sothinathan to let him finish and then ask questions, but Sothinathan kept on saying his piece now and then.
“This riled Saravanan up who lambasted Sothinathan. Saravanan told Sothinathan off, asking his fellow veep to zip-up. Saravanan also told Sothinathan that he loved the party more than positions and that Sothinathan came into mainstream politics by being a crony,” said a CWC member who attended the meeting yesterday.
The party held its first CWC meeting after picking new office bearers at its internal elections last year. The polls were marred with various allegations of election fraud. Several disgruntled leaders had asked the party to hold a re-election to rectify mistakes. They have even applied to the Registrar of Societies to direct the party to hold a re-election.
The polls on Nov 30, last year saw the election of three vice-presidents and 23 CWC members. Party president G Palanivel and his deputy Dr S Subramaniam were elected unopposed late last year.
The CWC’s decision not to hold a re-election is expected to have adverse effect on the party as some leaders, unhappy with the polls, were already planning to hold massive protests in front of the party headquarters. They also want action from the Registrar of Societies.
The CWC source also said several leaders spoke on the running of the last elections at the CWC meeting yesterday. They include Dr Subramaniam, Saravanan, Sothinathan, V Subramaniam, former treasurer KS Nijhar, party election committee member K Kumaran, former secretary general A Sakthivel and S Murugesan.
“After all these people spoke…the president just assumed that the CWC was against the re-election. There was no voting on the issue although it is causing a big division in the party. He did not even say what the conclusion was. He was behaving like nothing has happened.
“Pushing this matter under the carpet is only going to aggravate things. Those who are petitioning for a re-election will not take it lying down. Thing would turn bad before the party gets any better. We foresee a campaign to oust Palanivel. He is not going to have a smooth ride before he retires in 2016.
“Dr Subramaniam, who is the president in waiting needs to step-up and ensure MIC is not destroyed before then,” said the source.
-FreeMalaysiaToday
