The MIC leadership has up the ante tonight by threatening to take disciplinary action against V Mugilan should he be named tomorrow as Barisan Nasional's candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election.

This was resolved during a two-hour MIC central working committee emergency meeting at the party headquarters in Kuala Lumpur late last evening.

At a brief press conference after the meeting, party president S Samy Vellu said disciplinary action would be taken against anyone who acts in the detriment of the party.

Asked if he was referring to Mugilan, Samy Vellu replied: "It could be Mugilan, it could be anyone. But Mugilan is on the top of the list."

azlan Pressed further if Mugilan would be facing the axe, Samy Vellu refused to confirm this and said the party's next course of action would be made tomorrow.

According to party information chief P Kamalanathan, Samy Vellu is scheduled to meet BN deputy chief Muhyiddin Yassin at 10am tomorrow in Putrajaya.

"We shall release the information (about the candidate) after 10am tomorrow," he told Malaysiakini .

By threatening to sack Mugilan, MIC is piling on the pressure on Muhyiddin to pick the party's chosen candidate, instead the one favoured by Umno.

Prime Minister Najib Razak is currently overseas in the US and will only be back next week after a three-day visit to Japan.

Kamalanathan insisted that the party is only prepared to recognise deputy president G Palanivel as the candidate.

Similarly, CWC member KP Samy warned that BN could potentially face a boycott should Muhyiddin name anyone other than Palanivel.

"It's either Palanivel or we might withdraw from the race and let Umno contest," he said when approached.

Will BN play the Mugilan gambit?

The strong statements by top MIC officials lends credence to protracted rumours of the BN leadership being adamant about fielding a candidate other than Palanivel, who has been Hulu Selangor MP since 1990 until he was eventually defeated in 2008.

However, Hulu Selangor Umno leaders have voiced objections to Palanivel's candidacy to BN chairperson Najib Abdul Razak and even suggested that the candidate should come from Umno.

The rejection of Umno grassroots towards Palanivel is compounded by statements from top Umno leaders including Muhyiddin, who is Umno deputy president, and Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin.

azlan Muhyiddin had recently said that the candidate would be a 'local boy' while Khairy yesterday said the BN Youth movement was in favour of a 'youthful candidate' - thus indicating that they were favourable of Mugilan's candidacy.

Palanivel is the sole candidate named by MIC thus far and his ascension to the Dewan Rakyat is crucial because he is expected to helm the party in the near future.

Should Palanivel not be named, it would be a slap in the face of MIC - the third largest party in the BN coalition - and it would also set a precedence in which other component parties, namely Umno, interferes with a component party's choice of candidate.  

Should the BN leadership insist on fielding anyone other than Palanivel, they risk boycott from MIC grassroots. Yesterday, 30 of 72 Hulu Selangor MIC branch already threatened to dissolve their branches should Palanivel not be named.

Muhyiddin is expected to name the candidate at 4pm tomorrow in Hulu Selangor.

Nomination for the crucial Hulu Selangor by-election will be on Saturday while polling is on April 25 after an eight-day campaign period.

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