KUALA LUMPUR - Senator G Palanivel, who missed out as the Hulu Selangor by-election candidate last month, will succeed longtime MIC president S Samy Vellu as the party's top leader in September next year.
Samy Vellu said the leadership transfer is in line with the party's constitution.This is the first time that he has openly named the deputy president as his successor, ending speculation as to who will helm the party after he retires.
He said this during an interview with Media Prima's news executive director Ahmad A Talib in the TV3 talk show Soal-Jawab on Wednesday night."He (Palanivel) will become the acting MIC president when I step down,” Samy Vellu said.A pressure group calling itself Gerakan Anti-Samy Vallu (GAS) is asking the MIC president, who had held the party's reins for over 30 years, to step down immediately.
Samy plays down Mugilan's GAS
Led by sacked MIC Youth deputy chief V Mugilan, the group plans to hold a rally at the Putra World Trade Centre this weekend to carry its voice to Malaysian Indians throughout the country.
Asked about this, Samy Vellu said: “We will see how far he can go.”He said only certain MIC leaders were behind the GAS movement, adding: "I will be around on Sunday. Those behind are young people who do not know what we went through in the past.He said that the MIC Youth wing had also planned to organise a similar gathering on the same day but he had advised them to call if off as it would cause unnecessary problems for the party.“I have been democratically elected unopposed by the MIC branch chairmen in 2009. They have contravened the MIC constitution by questioning this democratic process,” he said.
"Maybe, people are asking me to go because I am laready 73 and, more important, I am not holding any post."So, they think they can usik me a bit," he added.
Not grroming his son
Questioned if Palanivel, 61, could hold the party together like he had done for the past 31 years, Samy Vellu said he believed his deputy would be able to do so."He would know the responsibilities as the president and the problems we (the party) face."If he starts now, he can prepare to contest the presidency later (in March 2012."Samy Vellu said during his term as the president and Cabinet minister, he had met more than 350,000 people, many of whom waited at his home from as aearly as 5am to see him and to seek his help.
"I believe Palanivel can continue meeting the people as he was previously my press secretary and was part of all this," he said.On his retirement plans, Samy Vellu said he would help Malaysian construction companies to seek opportunities in India and other countries.On accusations that he was grroming his son, central working committee member S Vell Paari, to become the party leader, he said: "If I had wanted to do so, I would have brought him into the MIC 23 years ago."I only appointed him as a CEC member last week."
The prospective 8th president
Samy Vellu, who was first elected in 1979, is the MIC's seventh president since John A Thivy helmed the party when it was formed in 1946
The past presidents include Budh Singh (1947 - 1950), K Ramanathan (1950 - 1951), K L Devaser (1951 - 1955), V T Sambanthan (1955 - 1973) and V Manickavasagam (1973 - 1979).
Palanivel, the prospective eighth MIC president was a four-term MP In Hulu Selangor before he was defeated by PKR candidate Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad, a former deputy Selangor mentri besar, in the March 2008 general election.In the April 25 by-election, he gave way to MIC information head P Kamalanathan to be the candidate. under the Barisan Nasional banner, Kamalanathan went on to win the seat with a victory over PKR's Zaid Ibrahim.Palanivel, a former deputy Women, Family and Community Development minister as well as former journalist and consumer activist, had said he was ready to to take over the MIC leadership when the time comes.Palanivel became MIC deputy president in June 2006, defeating 27- year incumbent S Subramaniam. —
Source :www.malaysianMirror.com
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