Karpal calls on Ramasamy to quit as Penang DCM

The feud between DAP's national chairman Karpal Singh and the party's deputy secretary-general Prof P Ramasamy deepened further with the former calling on Ramasamy today to step down as Penang Deputy Chief Minister II.

Karpal Singh, who is also member of parliament for Bukit Gelugor, said Ramasamy should resign of his own accord for defying DAP's Central Executive Committee's (CEC) directive to refrain from making any public statements on the party and also for openly attacking its leaders.

"Dr Ramasamy's position in the state government is no longer tenable because he had defied the decision of the party's three-member committee not to refer the party's internal problems to the press," he told reporters here today.

He was referring to a report in The Star on Thursday quoting Dr Ramasamy as saying his critics were plotting against him because he did not respond to their overtures for projects and favours.

Karpal Singh said through the statement, Ramasamy had obviously given impression to the public that he was making reference to him (Karpal Singh), Seri Delima assemblyman RSN Rayer and Bagan Dalam assemblyman A Tanasekharan.

"The matter is of such serious implication that his position as the deputy chief minister has now become untenable. This is a serious allegation. Till now, Dr Ramasamy has not denied making the statement," he said.

‘Ramasamy fails in his duty’

Karpal also challenged Ramasamy to name those implicated and report them to both the police and the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commision (MACC).

"Since he has not denied nor asked for any correction on the news report,  I challenge him to name those he had implicated and lodge police and MACC reports as the allegations amount to attempted corruption," he said.

He said Ramasamy had failed in his duty as deputy chief minister and had also committed an offence by not making the report to the relevant authorities.

Ramasamy could not be reached for comments.