THE raging battle between two Tamil dailies continues to escalate in the aftermath of the MIC elections. The fight is between Tamil Nesan, controlled by MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, and Makkal Osai, owned by Datuk S. Subramaniam.

The “garland of slippers” suggestion came after some MIC members got upset with Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who was quoted by the Makkal Osai as saying that Samy Vellu had done nothing for the Indian community and had to be removed.

Dr Mahathir had also said that the failure of Samy Vellu was the reason the Indians abandoned the Barisan Nasional for Pakatan Rakyat in last year’s general election. He had also urged party delegates to elect good leaders like Subramaniam.

Makkal Osai’s story sent shockwaves through the MIC, with some speculating that Subramaniam, the defeated deputy presidential candidate, had pulled out his trump card by using Dr Mahathir to secure victory.

Once a close ally of Dr Mahathir, Samy Vellu resorted to using his Tamil Nesan newspaper to attack the former premier.

He described Dr Mahathir as a person unfit to advise the MIC because he had disposed off his own deputies.

He also attacked Subramaniam as a disgrace for using the former prime minister to get votes in the MIC.
A one-word headline, “Shame!”, on the eve of the polls said it all.

Tamil media analyst Rajamanickam Puvendran said: “It’s all about Samy Vellu and Subramaniam in these newspapers and it looks like the spat between the two is not going to end soon.

“You would expect Subra to go into hibernation after his defeat but the fight between the old foes is bound to turn up exciting disclosures.”