Just a week after the general election, Penangites may have to brace for a surprise by-election in Prai state constituency as speculation is rife that its state assemblyperson Dr K Rajapathy would resign early next month following the party president's controversial decision to axe him as a Penang executive councillor.

Many grassroots leaders and members now plan to campaign against MIC and the party supremo S Samy Vellu in the event of a by-election.

"We will campaign against the party president for his sheer arrogance and ignorance to grassroots sentiments.

"First he dropped deputy president S Subramaniam and now Dr Rajapathy. Even worse, Samy Vellu had assured Rajapathy of his exco position prior to the election," said several local party leaders.

Samy Vellu's decision to replace Rajapathy ( photo ), also the state MIC leader, with Bagan Dalam state assemblyperson P Subbaiyah had shocked and upset many Penang MIC division and branch leaders and members.

Party grassroots leaders and members were divided over the matter.

"Although it is within the power of the party president to appoint or drop a MIC executive councillor, at least he should have the courage and courtesy to seek members' views," said a prominent local MIC leader.

'Cannot accept this'

Sources within the state Barisan Nasional circles confirmed that Samy Vellu had officially notified Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon on the surprise change.

It was learnt that Koh had tried to persuade Samy Vellu from dropping Dr Rajapathy but his attempts were futile.

In the just concluded general election, Rajapathy retained his Prai seat for the third time with a 583-majority vote by defeating DAP's Chong Eng while party state secretary Subbaiyah won the newly created Bagan Dalam with 1,967-vote majority.

MIC insiders said Samy Vellu had informed Rajapathy about the change when they met in Kuala Lumpur two days ago.

By Friday evening Rajapathy had already packed up his files and belongings from his exco office at the 53rd floor Komtar in George Town.

He has been MIC sole executive councillor since winning the Prai seat in 1995 general election.

"I cannot accept the party president's decision. However, I wish all the best to Subbaiyah," he told malaysiakini.

Leadership tussle

According to sources, Samy Vellu had axed Rajapathy as a "punishment" for not doing enough to prevent a leadership contest during the party polls in March last year in Bukit Bendera MIC division, in which the party president's relative was ousted as the division chairperson.

In that contest, challenger K Raman defeated Samy Vellu's brother-in-law P Shanmugam by a 12-vote margin.

Visibly upset by the defeat, it was learnt that Shanmugam and his aides complained to Samy Vellu that Rajapathy had allegedly engineered the leadership tussle.

Sources said that although Shanmugam's claims were unfounded and Rajapathy had vehemently denied it to the party president on numerous occasions, it was clear now that Samy Vellu did not believe him.

A couple of weeks after the party polls, Samy Velu had declared the Bukit Bendera divisional election as null and void alleging Shanmugam's rivals of gross misconduct during the polls, an allegation which was never proven.

Early this year, Samy Vellu appointed the defeated Shanmugam as the division pro-tem committee chief.

Sources close to Rajapathy said he would submit his resignation to the soon-to-be appointed Penang Legislative Assembly speaker early next month.

He is also expected to resign from all his party posts such as state party chief, central working committee member and Nibong Tebal MIC chief.

A Veeranggan is a Penang-based malaysiakini stringer.