KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24 — Umno’s Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi chided Datuk Seri G. Palanivel today for jeopardising the Barisan Nasional’s (BN) Indian party political future, telling the MIC president to stick to the agreed plan to resolve his party’s leadership crisis.

The Umno vice-president also cast doubt on Palanivel’s ability to deal with problems plaguing the country’s ethnic Indians, pointing out his coalition ally had yet to smooth over the problems within MIC.

“Stop all this and solve this issue politically… be fair to your members and the Indian community. How are you going to solve your community issues when you cannot even sort out your own party issues?” Zahid asked.

He also lashed out at Palanivel for allegedly cycling back on his promise with his BN colleagues in Umno to end the row festering in MIC, after the coalition’s top leaders came out with a solution.

“What was decided by the Registrar of Societies was based upon MIC’s own party constitution and rules.

“In fact, in a recent meeting between him, his deputy, prime minister, deputy prime minister, me, as well as BN’s secretary-general, Palanivel agreed to everything that was finalised by RoS, only to change his mind later, many times, when he met with his followers,” Zahid added.

The senior Umno politician who is also home minister was responding to the MIC’s latest move to file a lawsuit against the society regulator in an attempt to get its director-general Mohammad Razin Abdullah to retract directives sent to the MIC.

Bernama reported that the party’s newly announced strategic director, AK Ramalingam filed the ex-parte application yesterday for the court to set aside directives from the Registrar of Societies (RoS) to ask the MIC to conduct fresh election for three vice presidents and 23 CWC positions.

Ramalingam claimed the directives sent by the RoS were beyond its authority and done in bad faith.

This after Palanivel agreed to hold fresh party election at all levels on February 4, after a meeting with BN’s top leaders.

On February 10, Zahid had announced that MIC would hold fresh party elections at all levels, including for president and deputy president, from April to July, towards resolving the crisis so that the party will not be deregistered.

However, at a press conference on February 14, Palanivel had in an about-turn, demanded that RoS withdraw all its notices to MIC regarding the party’s problems by tomorrow failing which the party would haul it to court.

On February 18, in a second meeting with Najib, Palanivel and Dr Subramaniam had reportedly agreed that a meeting of the 2009 Central Working Committee (CWC) would convene after the Chinese New Year celebration, to set up an independent committee which would oversee the party re-elections.

Zahid whose ministry oversees RoS today said that BN and RoS are also ready to send their respective observers who will not “interfere in MIC’s business”, but to merely observe the party’s fresh elections procedures.

“It is just to observe and not more than that.

“I am the minister in charge of RoS and I am saying that we will not interfere in any party issues. The parties concerned however must abide by their own rules first,” he added.

The internal crisis in MIC arose after the RoS annulled the election results for the post of three vice presidents and 23 central working committee members during the MIC general assembly in Malacca in November, 2013.

In a letter dated last December 5 RoS ordered MIC to hold a re-election for these posts within 90 days following allegations of irregularities and breach of the party constitution and Societies Act.