Will Mike make good on his threat?

Three months ago S Manikavasagam, Kapar member of parliament, has threatened to step down from his Selangor PKR deputy chief post. Yesterday Manikavasagam vowed to quit the party altogether and be an Independent MP instead.

Is this a case of the boy who cried wolf?

Fellow MP and PKR information chief Tian Chua said he did not believe Manikavasagam would quit the party.

According to him, it was Manikavasagam’s way of “expressing his disappointment” with the Selangor government’s controversial decision to relocate the Klang bus station to Klang Sentral in Kapar.

“I don’t think he’ll do it,” said Tian, when contacted.

Manikavasagam, an outspoken MP popularly known as Mike, was reported in the Star today that he would quit the party before New Year’s Day.

He said he was “disappointed with the attitude of Selangor PKR leaders”, whom he said were neglecting the needs of the people.

“I have made up my mind and it’s final. I’m not joking and I’m very serious this time,” said the 43-year-old first-time MP, who is also party’s supreme council member.

“This decision is indeed a firm action and it will be my New Year ‘gift’ to the party,” he told the English daily.

DAP leaders too at loggerheads

Manikavasagam also cited in-fighting among state leaders as a reason for his decision and he is expected to make an official announcement before Wednesday.

The Kapar MP had a run-in with Selangor state assembly speaker and assemblyperson for Sungai Pinang, Teng Chang Khim.

Teng has slammed him for acting like an "opposition" and "has no knowledge" over the relocation of Klang's central bus station - away from city-centre and to a complex in Jalan Meru seven kilometres away.

Not only had this irked the Kapar MP, but it also got in the nerves of Klang MP Charles Santiago who has opposed the idea as it would affect the entrepreneurs who had been having their businesses there for so many years.

Santiago (right), whose constituency is next to Kapar, subsequently engaged in an open spat with his DAP colleague.

According to Santiago, the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government’s approach in relocating the bus station was no different from the previous BN government.

He took issue with Teng when the veteran DAP leader accused him of being "bought over" by BN.

Manikavasagam, who could not be contacted, had in September threatened to quit as the state liaison committee deputy chairperson if no stern action was taken against the person responsible for the demolition of a Hindu temple in Ampang.

But he changed his mind when the Selangor government slapped Ampang Jaya Municipal Council deputy president Hamid Hussain with a one-week suspension over the issue.

Manikavasagam had also vowed to quit the party a number of times even before he was elected MP.

Attempts to reach him have been unsuccessful as he had switched off his mobile phone.

‘We’ll wait for his official letter’

PKR deputy president Dr Syed Husin Ali said that he had few details on Manikavasagam’s threat to resign as he had heard it through the media.

“I just found out about it from the paper... so I don’t really know what’s going on... but I did (previously) advise him not to leave,” he said.

He however added that the party would wait for an ‘official letter’ from the Kapar MP if he was indeed adamant to leave the party.

Meanwhile, Chua refused to comment when asked if Manikavasagam was made a hasty decision.

“That is probably his personal characteristic and I don’t want to comment on that. But I don’t think he’ll do it,” he said.

Chua said the matter would be discussed by the PKR leadership at the party’s next supreme council meeting to be held in mid-January.