MCA deputy president Lim Ah Lek today conceded that a rift existed between him and party president Dr Ling Liong Sik and this stemmed not because of different opinions alone but opposing personalities as well.

Lim said this when posed with a question on whether his relationship with Ling would be damaged irreparably following Team Bs insistence to convene an extraordinary general meeting despite the party ruling not to call for one.

It has always been....You (reporters) got to ask him why he has been misleading the public by saying we are still friends, which is not true. I dont want to tell a lie, he told a press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur.

However he declined to comment when asked which incident or moment marked the breaking point between the duo who were once viewed as close allies.

The defiant deputy president  who helms the anti-Ling Team B  also stressed the president would not be returned to his post uncontested in this party election.

But Lim remained tightlipped on whether he would be the challenger beyond saying, Youll have the answer. Only time will tell.

According to Lim, the party president was a person who always contradicts himself.

On March 30, Ling said he would not obstruct or prevent an EGM but then he went back on his words by claiming that 80 percent of the party grassroots were against it.

He even urged the delegates not to attend the EGM. If he has the support of 80 percent of the grassroots and the 1,526 delegates as he claimed, why should he now undermine and sabotage the EGM? questioned Lim.

Independent committee

Yesterday, MCA Team B leaders said they will hold the EGM on April 21 at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur, defying party secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Pehs decision not to call for one.

Team B is seeking the setting up of an independent committee to verify its disputed party membership list which it claims is tainted with phantom members.

The faction is also seeking to revoke the suspension imposed upon the partys Youth wing since last December.

Team B leaders submitted their requisition for the EGM last Friday by providing signatures of 810 delegates which meets the constitutional requirement of at least one-third of the 2,384 party delegates, to call for an EGM.

But Ting later announced that the EGM would not be convened as 49 out of the 810 delegates who had originally backed the EGM have pulled out from the petition.

It is believed that Lim and his superior were at odds over the succession of leadership since two years ago but both had repeatedly denied this.

However, the crevasse widened last May when MCA acquired two Chinese dailies. The deal saw the party split into two, better known as Team A and Team B.

Team A led by Ling favoured the deal which evoked strong protests from the Chinese community who feared that the dailies would be reduced to mere propaganda tools.

Present at this afternoons press conference were other Team B leaders such as vice-presidents Chua Jui Meng and Chan Kong Choy, Youth chief Ong Tee Keat, Wanita deputy chief Dr Tan Yee Kew and central committee members Fu Ah Kiow and Tang See Hang.