DAP wants to kill us off, says Tian Chua
Parti Keadilan Rakyat (Keadilan) vice-president Tian Chua puts the blame squarely on DAP national chief Lim Kit Siang for the three-cornered fights involving the two parties.
He said Lim's public denial of the two parties of ever having any agreement had
badly damaged
the unity of the opposition and his continued party leadership puts a question mark over the DAP's future.
"We respected Lim as a veteran opposition leader and therefore gave way to him in Ipoh Timor, never expecting that after he got what he want, he will forget everything," Tian Chua said in a statement.
"DAP for the sake of their personal political interest, want to kill us off," he claimed.
The Keadilan leader said if there had been no seat-allocation accord, then his deputy party chiefs for Perak and Penang Dr Lee Boon Chye and Cheah Kah Peng would not have pulled out from nominations for the Ipoh Timor in Perak and Bukit Gelugor in Penang seats respectively at the 11th hour. DAP deputy chairperson Karpal Singh is contesting in Bukit Gelugor .
When contacted, Lim said he was shocked by such "irresponsible comment" from Tian Chua. He however refused to comment further.
Losing end
Lee was nominated for the 'unwinnable' Gopeng parliamentary seat against MCA's secretary-general Dr Ting Chew Peh while Cheah pulled out from the polls entirely.
Lee, who is based in Ipoh, has been laying the ground work for this general election within the local community since a few years ago.
"Despite all this it would have been hard for Lee to win in a new constituency after giving way to DAP's Lim. However, the voters would agree that the parliament needs a honest and hardworking person rather than a bully who does not keep his promises," Tian Chua charged.
DAP secretary-general Kerk Kim Hock has earlier claimed that the question of DAP not honouring its agreement "does not arise" since no such accord was reached in the first place as claimed by Keadilan.
The two opposition parties are engaged in about 20 three-cornered fights with the BN, the most being in Perak, involving three parliamentary and 11 state seats. In Penang, the parties are crossing swords for one parliamentary and three state seats.
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