Following his 'sacking' from the Malaysia Makkal Sakti Party last Sunday by 14 central committee (CC) members, founder president RS Thanenthiran returned fire by 'expelling' the rebel group of 14 (G14).

Thanenthiran predictably did not accept his membership termination by the G14.

After he landed in his home state of Penang following a trip to India, he announced he had fired the G14 for allegedly smearing the party's image and toppling him.

hindraf kamunting prayer 161207 thanenthiran He said he had decided to sack the G14 after they failed to reply to his show cause letter to them dated Dec 31, 2009.

The G14 includes deputy president A Vathemurthy, secretary-general R Kannan, CC members N Anbalagan and Sanjeeviramah.

Predictably, the G14 rebels raised various questions on the legitimacy of his presidential decision to expel them from the party.

"Firstly, we have already sacked him. He is no more the president nor a party member.

What power he has to sack us?" asked the rebel faction spokesperson S Sanjeeviramah.

The G14 held a CC meeting on Sunday at the party head office in Section 13, Shah Alam and decided to sack Thanenthiran as party member, which led to his automatic removal as party president.

Kannan had sent notices of the meeting to all 27 CC members, including Thanenthiran, who did not attend.

He then submitted a report to the Registrar of Societies on Thanenthiran's sacking and events that led to it.

Sanjeeviramah said each of the G14 members received the show cause letter only on Jan 4 this year.

Tarnished party image  

In it, he said the G14 was accused by Thanenthiran of holding an illegal meeting outside the party head office premises on Dec 19.

In that meeting, the G14 passed a motion of no confidence against Thanenthiran's leadership and urged him to step down.

Thanenthiran has accused the rebels of taking advantage of his silence for past 45 days, due to fasting and prayers, to create many problems in the party.

He also said he had instructed his lawyers to press criminal charges against the group for breaking into the party headquarters last Sunday.

In the show cause letter, Sanjeeviramah said Thanenthiran accused the G14 of tarnishing the party image and undermining his credibility as party president .

hindraf penang split into two factions 040409 Sanjeeviramah Subramani The G14 was given a week to reply on the charges. Sanjeeviramah ( right ) refuted Thanenthiran's claim that they did not reply to the show cause letters.

Although the G14 had passed a motion of no confidence against Thanenthiran, he said the rebels submitted their replies to the party secretary-general Kannan since the president was not in the country.

He said Thanenthiran should have first checked with Kannan on whether or not the G14 had replied to his show cause letter.

"He issued us show cause letters and disappeared to India. Is Thanenthiran so stupid to expect us to post our replies to India?" asked the outspoken Sanjeeviramah.

He also raised questions on validity of the power wielded by Thanenthiran to sack the G14 given that the power to sack a member was within the jurisdiction of the CC, not the president, as stated in Section 7.2 of the party constitution.

"When did Thanenthiran hold the CC meeting that decided to sack us?" asked Sanjeeviramah.

'Najib should step in'

Barisan Nasional chairperson and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak launched MMSP in October last year.

Sanjeeviramah called on Najib to step in and issue a directive to the 46-year-old Thanenthiran to step aside gracefully.

He claimed that 95 per cent of MMSP 12,000 members supported the G14 move to sack the Butterworth based Thanenthiran.

"Thanenthiran has been running MMSP like a private firm, like his restaurant. This is the people's party. He must bow to will of the majority," said Sanjeeviramah.

Led by Thanenthiran, MMSP was set up by a breakaway group from the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

Political observers then predicted that MMSP would meet a natural death for various reasons. The current internal politicking gives weight to the argument.