MIC deputy president Saravanan contradicts PN’s Takiyuddin, saying the party’s CWC has yet to decide on joining PN.
PETALING JAYA: A public contradiction has emerged within Malaysian political circles over the status of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) and its ties to Perikatan Nasional (PN), with the party’s own deputy president pushing back against claims made by the opposition coalition’s secretary-general.
MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan flatly dismissed assertions by PN secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan that the party had formally joined the coalition. Saravanan, who is also Tapah MP, insisted that the party’s central working committee (CWC) had not yet convened to deliberate on the matter — and until it did, no decision could be considered final.
“No decision has been made by MIC to join PN. I’ve been very clear from day one: we will let the CWC decide, and the CWC has yet to decide anything,” he reportedly said to several media outlets.
Saravanan further clarified that MIC had not submitted a formal membership application to PN. Instead, he said the party had only made enquiries into what joining the coalition as a component party would actually involve, following an earlier invitation extended by then-PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He also said he had no knowledge of any scheduled meeting between MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran and Takiyuddin that evening, adding that the president would have informed him had such a meeting been planned.
The remarks came directly in response to Takiyuddin, who had stated that PN’s Supreme Council had already given its approval for MIC’s admission — with the coalition’s approval reportedly granted in December and formally confirmed by the Supreme Council last Saturday. Takiyuddin had said he planned to meet Vigneswaran that night to hand over an official letter formalising the party’s entry as PN’s fifth component.
The dispute reflects a broader period of uncertainty that has surrounded MIC’s political direction for months. At its annual general meeting in November, the party resolved to leave the decision on whether to remain in BN — or move toward PN — in the hands of Vigneswaran and the CWC.
In January, Vigneswaran himself acknowledged that MIC’s leadership would need to meet to discuss the matter, even as PN’s approval of its application had already been reported.
On the BN side, secretary-general Datuk Seri Zambry Abd Kadir maintained that the coalition had received no formal notification from MIC and continued to regard it as a component party.
MIC leaders were also seen participating in a recent BN leadership retreat, a gesture that many interpreted as a signal that the party was in no hurry to leave.
MIC’s frustrations with its position in BN have been well-documented — the party has publicly described itself as feeling like an “unwanted guest” and has rued the absence of ministerial representation and meaningful appointments in government-linked companies — but the path forward remains unresolved, with its deputy president and the opposition coalition now offering starkly different accounts of where things stand.
The Sun Malaysia
