FULL REPORT KUALA LUMPUR: The never ending feud between MIC president S Samy Vellu and S Subramaniam has resurfaced once again as the clock ticks down for the Hulu Selangor by-election.
The public spat comes at a crucial time, and could prove to be a detrimental factor in the by-election where MIC deputy president G Palanivel is expected to contest.
Palanivel, with the blessings of Samy Vellu, had defeated Subramaniam and another candidate S Sothinathan in the battle for MIC's number two post last year.
In a statement today, Subramaniam expressed anger over articles appearing in the Samy Vellu family-owned Tamil Nesan daily which implied that he and his supporters are undermining Palanivel's chances.
He said the articles, penned by anonymous writers, had a “sinister and ulterior political motive to sow the seeds of hatred and animosity among MIC and Barisan Nasional supporters”.
“These articles only go to show Samy Vellu’s desperate attempts in conspiring to find scapegoats and plausible reasons now itself in the event MIC is defeated in Hulu Selangor.
“Instead of using the by-election as an opportunity to unite the different factions in MIC to win the seat, Samy Vellu has created further animosity between supporters of MIC leaders, thereby damaging BN’s chances of securing a victory,” he said.
“He knows that a defeat or the failure of BN to secure Indian votes would only point to his failed leadership in MIC as he has lot of answering to do on the highly publicised scandals in Maika Holdings Bhd, MIED and Aimst University and on the attempts by some private individuals to hijack the prized assets of MIED.
“Despite all his failures and setbacks, Samy Vellu still wants to be the sole campaigner in Hulu Selangor on behalf of MIC and is clearly making a frantic attempt to save his leadership,” he added.
Subramaniam said the MIC president of three decades is worried that a possible defeat would accelerate his departure from MIC.
Two-pronged attack
According to the former MIC deputy president, Tamil Nesan had launched a two-pronged attack against him and his supporters.
“The first is that I am behind the moves which call for the Hulu Selangor seat not to be given to MIC or to Palanivel again.
“Everyone knows that these calls came from Umno and its leaders and the reasons cited by them clearly explain that MIC and its leadership are not in a strong position to win back the seat,” he said.
“These Umno leaders claim that a weak MIC, whose popularity among the Indian community is at its lowest today, is the reason why the seat should be given to Umno,” he added.
Subramaniam said by implicating him with the statements of Umno leaders, Tamil Nesan is insulting the intelligence and political wisdom of these Umno leaders.
“Even before the candidate is announced, is it necessary to start such a controversy on Palanivel in Hulu Selangor? Will it help the voters to support a BN candidate? Does Samy Vellu want to deny knowledge of this despicable act of Tamil Nesan which is in fact causing damage to BN’s chances in Hulu Selangor?” he asked.
Instigating independents
Secondly, Subramaniam said the daily also accused him of plotting Palanivel's defeat by instigating independent candidates to contest in the April 25 by-election.
The MIC leader said as of today, three individuals have publicly delcared their intention to join the fray as independent candidates.
One of them is former Hulu Selangor MIC division chief V Chandran, a former staunch ally of Palanivel, who was recently expelled from the party.
The second is Malaysian Indian Youth Council president A Rajaratnam while the third is T Ananthan, a former Tamil Nesan employee who failed to win a Central Working Committee (CWC) position in the last MIC elections.
Citing a recent interview, Subramaniam said both Chandran and Ananthan have declared that they want to “teach Samy Vellu a lesson”.
Subramaniam said Tamil Nesan had also implicated him in a report published today.
“While reporting about a ceramah by Samy Vellu in Hulu Selangor which was disrupted by one Maika Holdings shareholder S Nadarajah who raised the Maika Holdings issue, the paper took pains to link me with Nadarajah.
“People cannot be hoodwinked as everyone knows that Nadarajah has more than a 10-year history of feuds and court battles with Samy Vellu over the Maika Holdings issues,” he added.
Meanwhile, Subramaniam said the daily had also insinuated that he worked against Samy Vellu in the Sungai Siput constituency during the 2008 general election to engineer the defeat of the MIC president.
“I wish to point out here that when such insinuations and allegations on Sungai Siput appeared in Tamil Nesan a few months back, I had categorically denied them and filed a legal suit on this matter against Tamil Nesan which is pending hearing,” he added.
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