MIC Line-up for the 12th Elections – Samy Vellu Contesting; Mugesan & Saravanan replaced Nijhar & Veerasingam respect.; 13 new faces - State Seats

ABOVE : Confidence of Samy Vellu:

"I can tell you out of the 19 state seats we have, we are only working on 3 state seats which we fear we have to do extra efforts. 1. Lunas, 2 Perai, 3 Bagan Dalam. These three, out of the other state constituencies, we have no problem. Parliament we have no problem"

BELOW: Confidence of Samy Vellu

"We know it for very sure because out of the 780,000 voters we have, 530,000 are our members -our own members. When own members, we have a special direction for them. What we have to fight for is the balance of 200 hundred over thousands"

= == == = == == = == =

R.Surenthira Kumar and Giam Say Khoon; theSUN
MIC's charge for the 12th General Election

KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 20, 2008): The MIC today made sweeping changes to its list of candidates for state assembly seats, replacing 13 of the 19 incumbents. It also changed two of its incumbent MPs, dropping vice-president and Tan Sri Dr K.S. Nijhar (Subang) and switching another vice-president Datuk S. Veerasingam (Tapah) to the Sungkai state seat in Perak which he previously held.MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu will spearhead the party into the country’s 12th General Election at a most challenging time, aiming to secure a ninth term in Sungai Siput. He said he was not afraid as he had seen tougher fights in his long political career. He told a press conference the party was switching its Ijok state seat in Selangor, retained in a by-election last year, with the Bukit Melawati seat held by Umno. Samy Vellu announced the names of the candidates after holding a one-hour closed door meeting with his party central working committee and the new candidates in the Works Ministry, Majority of the new faces are lawyers while the others were a doctor, civil servants and businessmen.

ABOVE & BELOW: MIC Line-up - all the president hopefuls waiting to be slaughtered in the coming 12 General Elections

MIC goes for new blood

Asked why Veerasingam was moved to a state seat, Samy Vellu said it was done so that the party vice-president can take care of Perak, following the departure of its long-serving state chief Datuk G. Rajoo. On Nijhar being dropped and his reaction, Samy Vellu replied: "I don’t know, I haven’t seen him. " He said Nijhar had served a two-term senatorship before he was brought into the party to serve the people.
Asked if the Indian community would continue to support MIC, he said he was confident they would because they realised that they needed a representation in the government. “All those who instigated them to ask all sorts of questions are those who cannot represent them in the government. If they feel they don’t want a representation, God also cannot help.”

On the effects of the recent Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rallies, the veteran politician said: “Hindraf is because of me, everything they do is because of me. Only because of me everything has happened in this country. You can write it in your paper ... you write it, people will laugh at you lah. Those fellows are just madly going doing things. We are fighting. They are members of the Opposition. There will be a ‘pooja’ every evening somewhere, DAP will be doing a pooja under the guise ...”

He said they knew how to talk to Indian voters who now realised they had been misled with promises like getting RM1 million. “Many people thought if they keep supporting them (Hindraf) they might get RM1 million. The RM1 million made a big swing. I also can say if you support me I can give you RM2 million, but that’s not what we want to do. In any case, the BN government has promised many things, it will be done, it is being done.” Asked how sure he was that the MIC could get Indian votes, he said: “Maybe the Indian voters feel, ‘this fellow is getting lost’, so we must ... I think the Indians may not like me now. That is why I thought if I go maybe they give better support to BN, I take it that way. I know the Indians don’t like me now ... so let us see.”

The party's list of candidates and other highlights:

> Sweeping changes at state level - 13 out of 19 assemblymen replaced with newbies
> Maintained: President Samy Vellu to defend Sungai Siput
> Dropped: Subang MP and vice-president Tan Sri Dr K.S. Nijhar (BELOW)

> Demoted: Tapah MP and vice-president Datuk S. Veerasingam (ABOVE) to his previous Sungkai state seat in Perak.
> Swap: MIC swaps Ijok state seat in Selangor with Umno's Bukit Melawati

MIC candidates:
PARLIAMENT
Sungai Siput: Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu*

Tapah: M. Saravanan (ABOVE)
Hulu Selangor: Datuk G. Palanivel*
Kapar: Komala Krisnamoorthy*

Subang: S. Murugesan (ABOVE)
Kota Raja: S.A. Vickneswaran*
Cameron Highlands: S.K. Devamany*
Teluk Kemang: Datuk S. Sothinathan*
Segamat: Datuk Dr K.V.S. Subramaniam*

STATE SEATS:

PENANG
Bagan Dalam: P.K Subbaiyah*
Perai: L. Krishnan

KEDAH
Bukit Selambau: S. Krishnasamy
Lunas: S. Ananthan

PAHANG
Sabai: M. Devandran*

NEGRI SEMBILAN
Jeram Padang: V. Mogan
Port Dickson: Datuk T. Rajagopalu*

MALACCA
Asahan: R. Perumal

PERAK
ABOVE: Dr P S Vasan, one of the new State hopeful declared

"I think we won't take anythings for granted. Being a Doctor, it is easier for me to mix with people. As you know I have been working a long time in Perak and it is not new for me"

Hutan Melintang: S.Thangeswari
Behrang: M. Ramasamy
Pasir Panjang: Dr P.S. Vasan
Sungkai: Datuk S. Veerasingam

SELANGOR
Bukit Malawati: K. Partiban
Batu Caves: T. Mohan
Sri Andalas: Kamala Ganapathy*

JOHOR
Kahang: R. Vidyanathan
Tenggaroh: M. Sooriya Narayanan
Gambir: S. Asohan
Permas: M. Munusamy
= == == == = == == == ==

UPDATE: February 20, 2008 17:06 PM

Veerasingham, Nijhar Dropped As MIC Retains Seven MPs

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 (Bernama) -- The MIC has retained seven of its nine incumbent members of parliament and has brought in 13 new faces for the 19 state assembly seats to contest in the general election. Subang MP and vice-president Tan Sri Dr K.S. Nijhar was dropped to pave the way for Shah Alam division youth chief and Central Working Committee (CWC) member S. Murugesan (ABOVE) to vie for the urban seat.

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said another vice-president and Tapah MP Datuk S. Veerasingam would be moved back to his previous Sungkai state seat in Perak.

His Tapah seat goes to MIC information chief Datuk M. Saravanan (ABOVE) . Samy Vellu, who will defend his Sungai Siput parliamentary seat for the ninth term in the March 8 general election, also said MIC would swap the Ijok state seat in Selangor with Bukit Melawati with Umno. Other MPs retained are deputy president Datuk G. Palanivel (Hulu Selangor), vice-president Datuk S. Sothinathan (Teluk Kemang), secretary-general Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam (Segamat), Wanita MIC chief Datin Paduka Komala Krishnamoorthy (Kapar) and MIC Youth chief S.A. Vigneswaran (Kota Raja).
= == = == = == == = ==