The battle for the control of MIC has taken a fascinating turn as a record number of 65 candidates have thrown in their hats for a place in the Central Working Committee (CWC) ,the policy making organ of the party.

The overwhelming response has forced party president S.Samy Vellu to boost his preferred candidates list from 23 to 27 which move is seen as also accommodating some grey hairs that still want to cling though perceived as having outlived their usefulness.

Control of the CWC is essentially control of MIC as it is empowered to change the party's direction, introduce reforms to repair its tattered image in the eyes of the Indian community, especially after its pathetic performance in the last elections.

Another reason for the large CWC rush is that its much easier to fight for a seat there than vying for any of the available top posts which are the under tight control of the party leadership, an MIC source explained.

Such a case in point is that of Klang businessman KP Samy (a strong supporter of former deputy president S Subramaniam) who initially entered the fray for the vice-president's post but later backed out to go for the CWC post.

Fresh faces and professionals debut

Both Samy's and Subramaniam's camps have drawn up their lists of potential CWC candidates realising the impact they would have on the main bout for the party deputy president and the three vice-presidents posts.

Samy has in his list, a mixture of the various groups in the Indian community namely Malayalee, Telegu and Sikh, which includes 13 fresh faces and professionals.

Not to be outdone Subramaniam has also picked a similar number of such candidates.

A party delegate said that by doing so, Subramaniam hopes to tap into the voter bank of the states that have the most numbers of delegates like Selangor, Perak and Johor to strengthen his bid for the deputy president's post.

A surprise entry for the CWC race, is a former vice-president political veteran M Muthupalaniappan whose attempt to challenge Samy for the party's top post failed at the nomination stage.

When asked why is he coming down the ladder, Muthu replied that he had planned his own agenda to change the party's direction in his manifesto when going for the top post.

His agenda includes equal rights for all members minus the caste or money politics which he considers as stumbling blocks for the party's progress.

Muthu said he would be able to implement his plans only is a CWC member. "The party's supreme body decides its political course ," he explained.

He overcame his bitterness at being unable to vie for the president's post through his strong desire to uplift the social status of the Indian community plus the calls from party members and delegates to go for a CWC spot, said Muthu.

He also said that he remains neutral where Samy and Subramaniam are concerned.