‘Hindraf to aid Pakatan in GE14’

Waytha: We will contest all the seats being held by the MIC

KLANG: The Hindu Rights Action Force will be back in action at the 14th general election and plans to contest eight seats.

Hindraf chairman P. Waythamoorthy said the group would be contesting under the Pakatan Harapan banner for four parliamentary and four state seats.

“We will be contesting all the four parliamentary seats that are currently being held by the MIC,” said Waythamoorthy when contacted.

The four seats and their MPs are – Segamat ( MIC president Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam), Tapah (party vice-president Datuk M. Saravanan), Cameron Highlands (former president Datuk Seri G. Palanivel) and Hulu Selangor (Datuk P. Kamalanathan).

Of the four state seats, Waythamoorthy said two were in Negri Sembilan and two in Johor.

The Negri Sembilan seats are Rantau, held by Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hassan and Jeram Padang, held by MIC’s Datuk L. Manikam. The Johor seats are Layang- Layang and Tanjong Puteri with Umno’s Abd Mutalip Abd Rahim and Adam Sumiru being the incumbents, respectively.

Waythamoorthy said Hindraf was prepared to contest under any of the four parties in Pakatan, which comprised PKR, DAP, Parti Amanah Negara and Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia.

He also believed that his group could deliver the Indian votes in another 31 parliamentary and 59 state seats.

“These are Malay-majority seats held by Umno, all of which were won marginally,” he noted.

“These are rural seats, and because Hindraf is a grassroots party, we are in touch with the people

“And, the grassroots Indian community in these constituencies have accepted us as their voice,” said Waythamoorthy.

Hindraf, he said, was also buoyed by the big turnout at its event in Seremban last week to commemo- rate the 10th anniversary of Hindraf ’s massive rally in 2007.

“More than 3,000 people attended the event, and this showed that Hindraf is still very relevant to the Indian community,” he added.

He also noted the attendance of invited Pakatan leaders to the event, such as DAP national organising secretary Anthony Loke, Penang Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy, PKR vice- president Nurul Izzah Anwar and DAP member Datuk Zaid Ibrahim.

Hindraf ’s 2007 rally, which took place in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25, was believed to have been one of the factors that contributed to the 2008 electoral tsunami.

The rally was held to protest alleged discriminatory policies.