MCA vice-president o­ng Ka Ting today said he hoped a recent poison pen letter alleging he has links with triads has nothing to do with the o­ngoing power tussle in the party.

He said this when asked if the letter could have been written and circulated by his political opponents amid an open fight between two factions in MCA since mid-2001.

There is speculation that O­ng is eyeing the party president's post after current chief Dr Ling Liong Sik steps down. Ling's term expires in 2005.