Confirmed: Palanivel to be MIC candidate
MIC will propose its deputy president G Palanivel as the Barisan Nasional candidate for the by-election of the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat.
MIC will propose its deputy president G Palanivel as the Barisan Nasional candidate for the by-election of the Hulu Selangor parliamentary seat.
Party boss S Samy Vellu however is coy over MIC’s chances of regaining the seat which it lost with a tissue-thin majority by 198 votes two years ago.
"Let me ring God and ask him. He is not free now," quipped Samy Vellu, when contacted by Malaysiakini today.
Meanwhile, party's information chief P Kamalanathan said Palanivel (left) - who has held Hulu Selangor for two term - has been working on the ground in the parliamentary constituency since his shock defeat to PKR.
The Hulu Selangor by-election comes in the wake of the death of former Selangor deputy menteri besar Dr Zainal Abidin Ahmad yesterday.
Kamalanathan said that Umno would not lay claim to the right to contest the Hulu Selangor seat as it is not the practice of BN to swap seats during by-elections.
Palanivel, when contacted, said that he welcomed the confidence Samy Vellu has placed in him.
When asked on the possibility of him obtaining a ministerial position should he win Hulu Selangor, he declined to comment on the issue.
If Palanivel is given a ministerial post, chances are that Human Resources Minister Dr S Subramaniam - the sole MIC representative in the cabinet - may have to step aside.
The MIC deputy leader also refused to be drawn into the debate on Umno's interest in contesting the seat.
HRP to decide on Sunday
Meanwhile, the Human Rights Party - which has yet to obtain registration - will announce whether to contest the Hulu Selangor by-election on Sunday.
"The party's position will be decided by the central committee at its meeting on Sunday," said the party's pro-tem secretary-general, P Uthayakumar.
It is widely speculated that HRP intends to use Hulu Selangor to make its electoral debut.
The party is a staunch Umno critic, but has recently turned Pakatan Rakyat - of which PKR is a member - into its pet peeve.
PKR secretary-general Saifuddin Nasution said the party will wait until Zainal Abidin has been laid to rest before deciding on the vexed question on who to field as its candidate.
Hulu Selangor is a semi-urban mixed seat of 63,539 voters of whom 53.9 percent are Malay, Chinese (26.7 percent) and Indians (19 precent).
BN has a good chance of winning back the seat as it won all three state seats under the Hulu Selangor constituency in 2008 - Kuala Kubu Bharu (MCA), Batang Kali (Umno) and Hulu Bernam (Umno).
