Crisis brewing in Makkal Sakti’s breakaway faction
By Athi Shankar, Free Malaysia Today
Just as the six-month-old Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party is trying to recover from its recent political crisis which resulted in two factions, another power tussle is set to rear its ugly head again.
This time the political crisis is expected to hit MMSP’s Team B formed by the breakaway group of 14 (G-14) central committee (CC) members.
The issue which is set to divide this breakaway group is whether they should continue to rally behind Barisan Nasional or opt to support Pakatan Rakyat.
Outspoken CC member S Sanjeeviramah @ Sanjay (photo) is expected to table a pro-Pakatan motion during the faction’s CC meeting at MMSP’s Shah Alam head office this Sunday.
It is learnt that Sanjay has the CC’s majority support to back his motion.
However, sources warned that Sanjay’s motion could trigger a heated argument between him and acting president A Vathemurthy, who is pro-Umno and BN. It could result in a power tussle between Vethamurthy and Sanjay.
“Sanjay could overthrow Vethamurthy and helm the party,” predicted a source. Sanjay was once a staunch Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) activist.
However, his reputation suffered a blow when he joined the breakaway Hindraf group led by then the movement national coordinator RS Thanenthiran to form MMSP last October.
BN chairperson and Umno president Najib Tun Razak launched the party, which was touted as the future political vehicle for the much maligned Malaysian Indian community.
Late last year, a power struggle engulfed the party, in which MMSP split in two – one faction helmed by Thanenthiran and the other led by the G14.
Sanjay was a major player in the power struggle and instrumental in ‘booting out’ Thanenthiran as MMSP president during G14 CC meeting on Jan 17 this year.
Initially the G-14 thought that Najib would back them. However, in recent weeks the G-14 sensed that Najib had turned his back on the faction and was coveting Thanenthiran as the rightful MMSP president. Now Sanjay wants the faction to support Pakatan.
