I refer to the malaysiakini report Pandithan attends MIC meet after 20 years .

The 1988 expulsion of MG Pandithan from the MIC started with a ruse on the part of Pandithan. Knowing that Umno has split and Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah was now with Semangat 46, Pandithan started accusing MIC president S Samy Vellu of discrimination leaving Samy with no options but to sack Pandithan.

in 1990, according to Pandithan's close associates in IPF, Dr Mahathir Mohamad met up with Pandithan to get his support for the general elections then. It seems Mahathir would admit IPF into Barisan Nasional thereafter splitting MIC's share of seats.

Pandithan, perhaps thinking that Semangat 46 would sweep the elections, declined the offer by Mahathir. Besides, he also took RM600,000 from Semangat 46 for electoral expenses. Maybe he thought he would be able to wipe out the MIC by winning all the seats allocated to the MIC.

But the 1990 elections turned out otherwise. MIC only lost the sole state seat of Prai in Penang while IPF lost all the seats it contested.

Later, the IPF leadership of Dr Gnanasegaran, Veerasamy aka Tamilmani, etc, resigned after a meeting with Pandithan. According to inside sources, Tamilmani asked for the party accounts to be made public and Pandithan's answer was 'Would you dare ask Samy Vellu the same question?' Feeling insulted, Tamilmani, Gnanasegaran et al all resigned.

Pandithan seemed to have learned the lesson of electoral politics and ever since has been knocking the doors of Barisan Nasional but without success due to Samy's refusal.

In the meantime, IPF's rank-and-file is upset with Pandithan's patch up with Samy. Why shouldn't they? They have obeyed Pandithan and earned the enmity of MIC members at the local level. To suddenly now patch up at the local level is not easy as it is for Samy and Pandithan.

Indians have a deep sense of pride and any hurt to it is carried to the grave unless extraordinary changes take place.

What are Pandithan and Samy doing to do to resolve these conflicts at the local level? And how are the local MIC and IPF members going to patch up after 18 years of enmity?

Lastly, what will happen in the next general election? Will MIC be able to win all the seats allocated to it? Ijok gave a nasty response to Samy and the MIC. Twenty percent of the rural Indians there voted for the opposition. This is a high percentage and a percentage that may increase in the next election. Don't be surprised if the MIC loses some seats.