An angry PPP president M Kayveas today said that he was going to sue MIC president S Samy Vellu for defaming his party at the recently ended meeting of the Indian diaspora in New Delhi.

He said that Samy Vellu had tarnished PPP’s reputation at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday without verifying his facts.

“He had told the press conference that a PPP member was there at the international conference to dispute whatever he (Samy Vellu) was saying on the conditions of the Indian community in Malaysia,” Kayveas told Malaysiakini today.

“He went on to suggest that PPP was acting to the detriment of the Barisan Nasional by doing so, and that he would seek action against us,” added the deputy minister in the prime minister’s department.

However Kayveas stressed that PPP had no representatives at the Indian diaspora conference.

“We were not part of his (Samy Vellu’s entourage). He did not invite us. We have never represented the Indian community in any conferences either locally or internationally.

“The Nadarajah he is talking about is not one of our members,” added Kayveas.

Samy Vellu’s press conference

On Wednesday, in an interview to the media in New Delhi, Samy Vellu lashed out at several Malaysians who disputed him when it comes to representing the situation of the Indian community in Malaysia.

"Here I am telling the Indians that we are all doing well and that the Indian community in Malaysia is well take care of and yet there are some individuals who rebut me by stating the opposite," he told the media, which was shown in TV3 late news on the same day.

He said an individual named S Nadarajah was one such person, claiming that he (Nadarajah) was a PPP member who had strayed out of line from the BN principles by attacking the government in India.

He said that the PPP member has been giving interviews to the Indian and international media, giving credence to the allegations made by the Hindu Rights Action Force.

“PPP is acting out of line here,” said Samy Vellu.

‘He has lost control’

Kayveas however said that it was unbecoming of Samy Vellu to make the PPP a scapegoat for his own failures.

“Samy Vellu is getting paranoid as a result of the public anger against him. It is unfair and uncalled for to deflect his failures to us,” he said.

“This Nadarajah is not ours. I have checked. Samy Vellu is unable to answer and handle the press in India and he had just made us the scapegoat to escape attention.”

“He has lost control of the situation, not just here in Malaysia but also in India. And he has no right to take a swipe at us without verifying anything,” added Kayveas.

Kayveas added that the people and politicians in India realise the real situation in Malaysia and it would have been better for Samy Vellu to have admitted the shortcomings of his party in solving the community’s woes.

“The anger is now against MIC and Samy Vellu. People want to know what he has done for the community which he has been leading for the past 30 years. He claims to be the sole representative of the community and if there is a failure, then it is his responsibility,” said Kayveas.

He added that the fact that Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi had refused to meet Samy Vellu was an indication that “the people in India have full knowledge of what is going on”.

Samy Vellu had failed to meet with Karunanidhi in his three attempts to meet the veteran statesman in Chennai to explain that there was no unrest among the Indian community in Malaysia.

Nadarajah’s denial

Kayveas added that Samy Vellu should admit that MIC has failed the community.

“I am not just saying this today. I realised that the party was heading towards failure as early as 1983 when I took over the PPP. Even then we had so many MIC members joining us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Nadarajah also told Malaysiakini that he was not a PPP member.

"I am here on my own. I am not a PPP member. And there is nothing wrong in telling the world the truth about how the Indian Malaysians are being neglected," he said.

"If Samy Vellu thinks he can get away with his lies by turning the table against me, he is very wrong. I might even sue him for defaming me," he added.

MIC and PPP, both coalition partners in the ruling BN, have been involved in a running spat for some time now over the issue of who had failed the Indian community.

Verbal spats between various MIC leaders and Kayveas on the issue have also resulted in MIC vice president S Sothinathan filing a defamation suit against Kayveas.

“Samy Vellu has been telling his boys to sue me whenever I speak about their shortcomings. Maybe this time I will do the same against him,” said Kayveas.