Come clean on support for unity govt, Saravanan told

Come clean on support for unity govt, Saravanan told

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian Indian People’s Party (MIPP) president SP Punithan has challenged MIC deputy president M Saravanan to publicly declare whether he is satisfied with the unity government he represents.

Punithan said Saravanan, who is also the Tapah MP, cannot ask voters to support the Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate in the Ayer Kuning by-election if he himself was unhappy with the federal and Perak state governments.

“It’s time for him to give an honest answer. You can’t pretend to be happy and ask the voters to vote (for BN) just for the sake of winning and retaining the seat,” he said in a statement today.

“If an elected MP himself is not happy with the coalition he represents and the government he supports, then why is there a need to ask people to vote for the government?”

Earlier today, FMT reported Saravanan as saying that housing and local government minister Nga Kor Ming’s announcement last Thursday of RM6.13 million in development and infrastructure allocations for Tapah this year had come “too late”.

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He had also expressed optimism that BN would win in the upcoming Ayer Kuning by-election, but said increasing the 2,313-vote majority from the last general election may be a tall order due to the possibility of a low voter turnout.

Punithan also accused the unity government of sidelining Indian interests and called on Indian voters in Ayer Kuning to reject the coalition at the ballot box.

“Let’s make the election a referendum and send a strong signal to the unity government — don’t take Indians lightly, our votes are not easy (to obtain),” he said.

The Ayer Kuning by-election will see a three-way contest involving BN’s Yusri Bakir, Perikatan Nasional’s Abdul Muhaimin Malek and PSM’s KS Bawani. Polling is on April 26.