Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe by Email ‘You can go,’ Samy tells disgruntled division chief
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/16/nation/17451098&sec=nation
By DHARMENDER SINGH
KUALA SELANGOR: Kuala Selangor MIC division chief P. Thirumoorthy, 55, has threatened to resign if he is not chosen to contest the Ijok state seat but his party president feels that Barisan is quite capable of winning without the division chief’s support.
“We (Barisan Nasional) will not suffer because of this ? I have the support of 98% of the branches here.
“They can go. All the people in Ijok will remain with us. I appreciate him for backbiting the party,” sniped MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu when speaking to reporters here yesterday.
He said this was not the first time that Thirumoorthy had acted against the party and he had proof that the division chief had also chosen an independent candidate to fight former Ijok assemblyman Datuk K. Sivalingam during the last elections.
He said he would not meet with Thirumoorthy as he did not wish to “deal with traitors.”
The state seat became vacant after Sivalingam died on April 4.
“He (Thirumoorthy) has been a leader for a long time and he has only managed to tear apart the party. There has been infighting and I want to clean it up with a new candidate,” Samy Vellu said.
“I am happy that before I can sack him, he is already out. I do not want any resignation (letter from him), let him get lost,” he added.
Earlier, at a press conference at the MIC division office here, Thirumoorthy said that he and 33 MIC branch chairmen in his division would resign immediately if a candidate other than himself was announced by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohamad Khir Toyo today.
He said that 18 of the chairmen were from the Ijok constituency and represented about 2,000 voters.
“I have been with the party for 40 years and supported all the ‘visitors’ who have served as assemblymen.
“It is time that my sacrifices are recognised. It is time to respect the voters’ wish to have a local candidate,” said the schoolteacher.
