PKR leaders have refuted criticisms by N. Gobalakrishnan, saying the Padang Serai MP could face a defamation suit if he persists with his diatribe.
Selangor state executive councillor Dr Xavier Jeyakumar said the party renegade’s claims were not true that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had refused to re-open the Sivan temple in Bukit Gasing, thus failing the Indian community and being anti-Hindu.
He clarified that the de facto leader had nothing to do with the shutting down of the temple.
Jeyakumar added that a stop-work order was issued in December 2008, but was later moved in January.
Gobalakrishnan has been on a rampage against the party leadership via microblogging site Twitter over the past weeks, centring most of his attacks on Anwar and newly-elected deputy president Azmin Ali by saying they were “cheating and bluffing the Indians”.
He said today that Anwar was showing his true colours by refusing to re-open the Sivan temple in Petaling Jaya and denying the Hindu community a state executive councillor in Selangor.
Newly appointed vice president, lawyer N. Surendran, called his accusations as “completely false”, “mischievous”, “completely baseless” and a “ridiculous lie”.
“Because of the seriousness of the nature of this scandalous and false statement, we will be issuing a demand to Mr Gobalakrishnan to retract his unjust, unfair, and false statements against Dr Xavier, failing which, a writ will be issued against him for defamation,” he said.
However, when asked if any disciplinary actions will be taken against the rebel leader, he declined to comment and said that it will be decided when the party’s political bureau convenes, which will likely be next week.
“There are politicians of a brand and ilk who always rely on their ethnic identity in order to remain relevant in the politics of this country. Mr Gobalakrishnan is one of them and I can tell you that this is typical and classic Barisan Nasional style of politics which is divide and rule and use race in order to remain relevant to the rakyat.
Gobalakrishnan had also claimed that the appointment of Surendran as vice-chairman had been unconstitutional as the latter was not even a party member.
However, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah, who is a vice president, among others, had vouched the legitimacy of his membership.
On top of that, he had also produced his membership card to reporters today.
