Feud to hog limelight

Karpal, Ramasamy spat likely to be raised at central meeting

(New Straits Times) – THE DAP central executive committee meeting tonight might discuss the ongoing feud between party national chairman Karpal Singh and its Penang deputy chairman P. Ramasamy over the “warlords and godfathers” issue.

  Karpal said yesterday that there was nothing to stop any party leaders from raising the issue, although it was not part of the meeting agenda.

  He said the meeting was fixed much earlier and the main topic of contention was amendments to the party’s constitution.

  “The issue is not on our agenda. However, there is nothing to stop anyone from raising the issue during the meeting.

  “Since a complaint (against Ramasamy) has been lodged with the DAP disciplinary committee, we will leave it to them to handle the matter,” said Karpal.

  It is not known when the DAP disciplinary committee will convene a meeting next.

  The spat between Karpal and Ramasamy arose after a Tamil newspaper quoted Ramasamy as saying that DAP would field three Indian women candidates in the next general election  and that several DAP members of parliament would be retained.

  Ramasamy, who is also   Penang deputy chief minister II, was also quoted as saying that he would defend both his Prai state and Batu Kawan parliamentary seats.

  Karpal responded by saying that DAP would not have warlords going around promising and announcing seats for their cronies ahead of the central executive committee’s decision.

  Ramasamy then shot back by saying that while DAP should not have warlords, there should also not be any “godfathers” in the party, too.

  Karpal had, during the Penang DAP convention on Sunday, demanded that Ramasamy retract and apologise for his “godfathers” remark against the party elders, in particular, to him.

  However, Ramasamy has remained unrepentant and said that he was ready to relinquish all his posts and quit the party if the situation demanded it.

  Meanwhile, despite DAP members being tight-lipped about Ramasamy’s predicament in the party, its national publicity secretary Tony Pua said that  no gag-order had been issued.

  “If they (the central executive committee members) want to discuss it, then the can proceed. But for now, it is not on  our agenda.”

  DAP youth chief Anthony Loke said: “It is up to the central committee to see how the party should resolve the matter.”