About 20 "thugs" today tried to stop MIC vice-president M Saravanan from entering the party headquarters to hold a press conference on the party's current crisis.

The men claimed that they were appointed by party president G Palanivel and secretary-general G Kumar Aaman, a day before, to ostensibly guard the building.

Upon hearing this, some 200 people who accompanied Saravanan to the party headquarters began yelling abuses aimed at Palanivel, including "Palanivel sudah mabuk (Palanivel is drunk)".

The ruckus lasted for about an hour before police forced one of the ring leaders to leave the area and this cased the crowd to disperse, including those guarding the entrance.

However, the drama did not end here.

Saravanan's press conference was eventually held 30 minutes later than scheduled, during which he received two death threats through the phone.

Saravanan had played the conversation through speakers and allowed the press to listen in.

The caller, speaking in Malay, threatened to shoot Saravanan.

"Come here then," replied Saravanan nonchalantly. "The reporters want to see you shoot me".

Threats of more protests

During the press conference, Saravanan threatened to organise a march to Palanivel's house should the Palanivel  fail to organise an emergency meeting to iron out the party's current problems.

The party has been directed by the Registrar of Societies to hold a re-election for its three posts of vice-president and 23 central working committee members by mid-February.

However, Palanivel is disputing the ROS claims of irregularities in its party leadership elections held at the close of 2013 and has not yet indicated when fresh elections will be held.

Detractors claim that Palanivel is putting the party at risk of deregistration.

"What is wrong with you Palanivel? Do you know what is going on? MIC has been destroyed today and Palanivel's leadership destroyed the party," Saravanan said.

He claimed that if the matter is not resolved, he will organise a demonstration comprising 1,000 MIC Youth members, which will involve a march to Palanivel's house.

"Or, I will get 15 CWC members and do my own reshuffle, as it is allowed in the (party) constitution," Saravanan added.

Increase in security

Meanwhile, MIC information chief L Sivasubramaniam dismissed claims that the party had hired "thugs" to intimidate Saravanan and his supporters.

Instead, he described the group guarding the building as hired help, following the discovery of Facebook posts urging MIC members to attend Saravanan's press conference as a show of support.

"I heart that they planned to bring 1,000 or more supporters today, so we hired the men as security guards to ensure the security of the place," he told Malaysiakini.

Attempts to reach Kumar Aaman and the Sentul police chief for comments by phone were unsuccessful.