Quit politics, MIC man tells Palani

The party boss is accused of failing to resolve problems faced by branches in Petaling Jaya Utara.

PETALING JAYA: An MIC branch leader today called on party president G Palanivel to quit politics, accusing him of blocking others from serving the Indian community.

“If you’re not helpful, leave politics,” said S Padnmanagan, who leads MIC’s SS2 Tengah branch. “Don’t be a stumbling block to others who want to serve the community.”

He said his call had the support of nine other branches in the party’s Petaling Jaya Utara (PJU) division, including Taman Aman, Damansara Utama, Taman Sentosa, Damansara Jaya and Kampung Cempaka.

He alleged that Palanivel had failed to resolve problems that had been plaguing the branches since the PJU division was dissolved in 2009 following the defection of several members to PKR.

Padnmanagan said that since 2009 Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak had allocated nearly RM1 million for programmes in PJU to draw back Indian support to Barisan Nasional but that the money had not trickled down to the branches.

“I wrote a letter to PJU BN coordinator Wong Sai How on the matter, but I did not receive any response,” he said.

“That’s when I was told by some other BN leaders that I have to approach the Selangor MIC chairman, who is Palanivel, on the matter since my division is defunct.

“And I approached Palanivel several times, but we have, till now, not received any funds.”

The lack of funds had prevented many MIC branches in PJU from conducting programmes to help poor Indians in the area, he added.

Aid for poor Malays

Padnmanagan spoke of a recent function where about 1,000 poor Malay children received aid under the 1Malaysia programme in the form of school uniforms, bags and books.

“They even had free haircuts, but poor Indian children received nothing,” he said. “I know this because I was there at the function. I really felt bad.”

According to him, there are more than 6,000 Indian voters in PJU, concentrated in the state constituencies of Damansara Utama and Kampung Tunku.

“In total, 7% of the voters in PJU are Indians,” he said.

He took Palanivel to task for not appointing an MIC coordinator for PJU soon after the division was dissolved.

“But we only received our coordinator four months ago, who is none other than Petaling Jaya Selatan MIC division chief V Subramaniam, or Barat Maniam,” he said. “And Barat Maniam has yet to receive an appointment letter.”

However, Padnmanagan questioned the wisdom of choosing Subramaniam for the post, saying the latter’s own division had many unresolved problems.

“Why do you need to appoint an outsider to coordinate PJU MIC? Don’ tell me you can’t find even one local leader to lead this place.”

He also accused Palanivel and Subramaniam of trying to remove him and the branch leaders aligned to him by denying them the right to update their membership in the party.

“The party will usually issue the B Form to all branches, which will allow us to update our membership. We have to do it by Dec 15, but until today, we have yet to receive the forms.

“When I asked party secretary-general S Murugesan, he said the forms were with Subramaniam.”

He urged Palanivel to respond to his allegations.

“I want BN to be strong,” he said. “But in the end, it only takes a few bad leaders to spoil the name of the party.”