DAP MP confirms infighting in Batu Kawan

BUKIT MERTAJAM: Infighting in the Batu Kawan DAP committee may result in incumbent MP P. Kasthuriraani being moved to contest in Perak, according to party sources.

They said committee secretary Satees Muniandy, who is aligned with Deputy Chief Minister II Dr P. Ramasamy, is being considered for the Batu Kawan parliamentary seat which is the biggest on the mainland.

Ramasamy won Batu Kawan in 2008 before Kasthuriraani’s huge victory in 2013.

Talk is that the daughter of the late DAP stalwart P. Patto will be moved to contest a seat in her homestate, where Patto had served as Gopeng assemblyman and Menglembu MP.

Kasthuriraani, 39, confirmed yesterday that she was facing problems but attributed it to the Barisan Nasional.

“It involves matters such as the upgrading of Federal roads, especially in the Prai Industrial area,” she said, lamenting that DAP MPs only received RM200,000 a year in allocations.

Kasthuriraani, a first-term MP, said she was also overwhelmed with requests for education funding, mainly from the Indian community.

“But I can’t help everyone,” added the Batu Kawan DAP committee member.

On her performance as Batu Kawan MP, she said: “I have been carrying out my duties diligently and have been dividing my time equally between Parliament and serving my constituents,” she said.

Kasthuriraani won the seat with a thumping 25,962 vote majority.

In 2008, Dr Ramasamy defeated former Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr Koh Tsu Koon by 23,067 votes.

Sources said Batu Kawan organising secretary David Marshel, another ally of Ramasamy, was in the running to contest Bagan Dalam, where two-term DAP assemblyman A. Tanasekharan is expected to be dropped.

Bagan Dalam comes under the Bagan parliamentary constituency held by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

Satees and Marshel are both Seberang Prai municipal councillors.