Works Minister S Samy Vellu turned up in Parliament this morning to answer a question on PLUS highway but found himself getting upset over affairs of the MIC, of which he is president.

The minister turned emotional and locked horns with Parliamentary Opposition Leader Lim Kit Siang over the latter's 'opening remark' in a supplementary question.

Several dailies reported today that MIC president Samy Vellu has openly endorsed G Palanivel as the party's No 2, a decision which is expected to further sour ties with his present deputy, S Subramaniam.

The drama began with Lim saying, "First I would like to congratulate the minister for making public that he is dumping his (party's) deputy, but I'm not concern with the fate of his deputy..."

Before he could finish the sentence, Samy stood up and yelled at him, asking Lim what he actually wanted to say.

A fiery shouting match then ensued with the two veteran politicians pointing and yelling at each other. As is usually the case, some backbenchers also joined in the fray.

In between the 'battle of the lungs' in the august House, Lim managed to sneak a request to the government to investigate a compensation of RM38.5 billion which the government had paid to highway concessionaires over the years.

He said the onus was on the government to resolve the issue because the financial burden had "victimised" the taxpayers for two generations.

'I only dump one person'

However, the works minister did not directly answer Lim's question but said he had to explain on the MIC issue, although it was not related to the original question.

Said an irked Samy Vellu: "It is only one person I dump, how many people have you (Lim) dumped? People have quit DAP now, not just one or two, I don't want to mention that...

"Do you know I have appealed to Dr Mahathir (Mohamad, ex-premier) to release you? Ask Dr Mahathir, you will know. I and a few other ministers appealed to him..." he added.

Samy Vellu was referring to Lim's detention under the Internal Security Act during the 1987 Operasi Lalang in the government's crackdown on opposition leaders and social activists.

The shouting match between the two veteran parliamentarians continued for about 10 minutes.

In his reply to the original question from Hamim Samuri (BN-Ledang), Samy Vellu said the government had no plan to review the agreement with PLUS highway.