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Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu (right) hugging Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan as the latter was delivering his speech at the IPF annual general assembly yesterday. |
KUALA LUMPUR, Mon:
The Indian Progressive Front will not be dissolved.
Instead, it will continue to work with the MIC towards the development and progress of the Indian community.
Its president, Tan Sri M.G. Pandithan, set to rest fears about a possible merger with the MIC yesterday by declaring that he would always remain "an IPF man".
He also quelled rumours about a possible return to the MIC which he left after a confrontation with MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, nearly 20 years ago.
"The question of my future is being asked. What is my future? What is the future of IPF?
"Today, I would like to emphasise that I would like to die an IPF man. IPF will never be dissolved. Instead, we will co-operate with Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu and the MIC," he said.
The eagerly-awaited announcement was greeted with cheers by the 3,000 members who had gathered for the IPF general assembly at Menara PGRM yesterday.
Samy Vellu echoed Pandithan and said: "MIC wants Pandithan to continue leading the IPF. There is no question of the IPF’s dissolution."
Before the IPF general assembly, there had been wide speculation about IPF’s possible dissolution and Pandithan’s return to the MIC.
The rumours were stoked by Pandithan’s invitation to Samy Vellu to open the general assembly. Articles in the Tamil newspaper, Makkal Osai, also claimed that the IPF would soon be dissolved. Pandithan later said he would not take legal action against the paper as he claimed to have "not taken them seriously".
He also said the party would continue in its struggle to be accepted as a component of the Barisan Nasional and remained positive about IPF’s prospects, although he feels this could take time.
On IPF’s entry into BN, Samy Vellu remained non-committal. "I do not know. This is something we have only discussed in our hearts. We have no opinion on this for the moment."
While delivering his speech, Pandithan was interrupted at one point when Samy Vellu walked over to the podium to give him a warm hug.
Pandithan said he would work with Samy Vellu whom he considered as his political mentor.
"I will only leave you upon my death," he said.
The bad blood between Samy Vellu and Pandithan began in 1988 when Pandithan, who was then an MIC vice-president, was sacked from the party with 13 supporters, for holding a hunger strike in front of the MIC headquarters. They had appeared with a coffin, after being issued a show-cause letter for allegedly practising caste-oriented politics.
In August 1990, Pandithan formed the IPF.
Earlier this year, Pandithan and Samy Vellu buried the hatchet and both their political parties campaigned for the Barisan Nasional in the Ijok by-election on April 28, which was won by MIC’s K. Parthiban.
