Malaysian Indian Congress leader denies quitting party post

Singapore: KP Samy, a member of the Central Working Committee (CWC) of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), has denied reports that he would quit the post as he was not offered a senatorship in the upper House of the Malaysian Parliament.

"I had merely offered to step down to give way to younger leaders but the president urged me to stay on," the Malaysian Star quoted him as saying in a press conference Monday. Samy and two others were expelled from the party in 2010 after they had launched a campaign to pressure then party president S Samy Vellu to step down. He was brought back to the party in April last year after G Palanivel took over as president. Formed in 1946, the MIC is one of the oldest political parties in Malaysia. It is one of the three major constituents of the country`s ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, the other two being the United Malays National Organisation and the Malaysian Chinese Association. The party`s CWC is scheduled to hold a a general meeting May 23 to discuss the formation of the election committee for the long overdue presidential election. IANS