KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Dec 2008: The MIC central working committee (CWC) is mulling disciplinary action against party presidential aspirant Datuk M Muthupalaniappan for allegedly issuing public statements against the interest of the largest Indian political party in the country.
Sources revealed that the monthly CWC meeting, chaired by MIC president Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu 18 Dec, decided that the matter be looked at by the party disciplinary committee, headed by party veteran Tan Sri G Vadiveloo.
Contacted by Bernama today, Vadiveloo neither denied nor confirmed that Muthupalaniappan was being investigated for issuing statements against the interest of the party, only saying: “I cannot comment on that”.
Muthupalaniappan, the former MIC vice-president, announced his intention for the party presidency a month ago and has since been issuing statements on party matters.
However, it is not clear if any of these statements were in violation of the MIC constitution, which entitles the president, on the advice of the CWC and the disciplinary committee, to expel any member found guilty for issuing public statements against the interest of the party.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Muthupalaniappan’s press secretary V Thiagarajan said his boss was aware that he would be investigated by the MIC disciplinary board but “he has nothing to hide because he did not issue any statement against the interest of the party.”
“He knows of the CWC’s decision. We have gone through all the newspaper cuttings and whatever my boss said, and there is nothing that was said against the interest of the party. We will see what the disciplinary committee wants and cooperate with them,” he told Bernama, when contacted.
He also claimed that Muthupalaniappan was confident of doing well at the party’s presidential election, expected to be in first quarter of the year.
“We are looking at a glimpse of victory. We have touched base with the branch members and things are looking positive,” he said.
Thiagarajan also said that Muthupalaniappan had also written a letter to Samy Vellu and party secretary-general appealing that new branches were not formed this year as the election year was 2009.
“But we have not got any reply to that, so we have to see first,” he added.
The MIC presidential race will be decided by the party’s branch leaders, who would at the polls pick the party president. The positions of deputy president, three vice-presidents and 23 CWC members will be picked by some 1,500 divisional delegates at the party’s general assembly in the later part of 2009. — Bernama
