In a well-known fable about betrayal, a scorpion asks a frog to carry him across a river, reassuring the frog that it will not be stung.

The frog agrees but mid-way through the river, it is stung by the scorpion. When the dying frog asks why, the scorpion replies: "I'm a scorpion, it is my nature".

This was the story PPP president M Kayveas used to describe his protege-turned-nemesis T Murugiah, during his opening address at the party annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur today.

kayveas hq pc 050609 "Ladies and gentlemen, look out for scorpions! They are people around who don't mind drowning if they can drag you down too," said Kayveas, to moderate applause of agreement from the floor.

Asked to elaborate on the story later, Kayveas said that he was told by a third party sometime in 1997 that a certain individual was keen on following his footsteps and wanted to play a role in the party.

"So that was how I met the scorpion. I brought him in, made him a member and gave him a branch," he said.

Never at any time referring to Murugiah by name, Kayveas detailed how he had aided the former's meteoric rise in the party which resulted in him becoming a deputy minister.

"When he was in the Youth (wing), he raised the polygamy issue, saying that men should marry as many as they want because there was a lot of single women.

"It was a big issue and the pressure was too much for him that he resigned, around 2002, and wanted to migrate to Australia. Every other day, I had to give him confidence and pep talks to bring him back," he said.

He wanted to ‘leap frog'

Kayveas said that Murugiah rejoined the party in 2006 and in two years had leap-frogged over others to become a deputy minister.

"There were so many other senior leaders, but he seized the chance, and leap frogged so he can sit there (as a deputy minister)," said Kayveas.

kayveas murugiah ppp Murugiah and Kayveas are locked in a bitter feud for control of the party, which climaxed when the former was "elected" party president at an extraordinary general meeting on May 24.

Kayveas' faction has disputed the validity of the meeting with the Registrar of Societies and later won the party presidency unopposed on May 30.

Murugiah's faction had also filed complaints against Kayveas with the ROS, claiming that the latter was responsible for the party's failure to fulfil several technical obligations to the ROS.

While the probe into the complaints is ongoing, the ROS said it would maintain the status quo for PPP with Kayveas being the legitimate party president.

Meanwhile, Kayveas said that he would not nominate himself as a deputy minister should Murugiah's post as deputy minister in the Prime Minister's Department became vacant.

"No, leave me out. Especially not at this time. I will look as though I did all this for a post," he said.

Earlier today, Prime Minister Najib AbduL Razak said he will decide on Murugiah's fate only after the ROS has completed its probe.

PPP is expected to nominate a replacement for Murugiah after the party polls from the party's vice-president ranks, once the three positions are elected today.