KUALA LUMPUR: MIC vice-president Tan Sri K.S. Nijhar's decision to quit his post last month was a culmination of factors involving party chief Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.

His first grouse was that he had been dropped from the list of candidates for the 2008 general election.

The worst cut, according to Nijhar, was that he had not been informed of the decision.

"A large part of the Subang constituency is made up of highly-educated people. So, they would naturally vote for someone who is better educated than them," said Nijhar, who holds a doctorate in economics from the Australian National University.

"If I had stayed on as the candidate, I would have won. MIC and the Barisan Nasional would have another parlimentary seat now," the 72-year-old added.

Nijhar, who had won the seat in 1999 and 2004, said party leaders had a responsibility to inform people in advance if they wanted to drop them.

His second complaint was that Kapar division chairman S. Subramaniam, better known as Jumbo Maniam, should not have been sacked on May 15 by the Central Working Committee (CWC) without a proper hearing.

He was upset with the decision to expel Jumbo Maniam who had served the party for 35 years.

"The meeting was originally to discuss the re-branding exercise and then they discussed this matter. I spoke against it for 45 minutes and I was sore when I was voted out."

He said Jumbo Maniam's questions about the accounts of AIMST University should be answered by the board of directors of the university and not the CWC.

"The board of directors had remained silent. Instead the party took action through the disciplinary committee. You have only removed the symptom but not the disease."

"I was disappointed with the CWC's decision and felt the president should have backed me up. We must make correct decisions, not popular ones. In the years that I had been the disciplinary committee chairman, nobody could accuse me of not giving them a fair hearing," he added.

His third problem was with the MIC's rebranding exercise, which Nijhar said should not be restricted to changing the party's song or uniform.

"We should call all non-governmental organisations and non-Indian based organisations for a heart-to-heart talk. Ask them what they think of MIC, what they expect it to do."

He said it was also time for MIC to champion for general causes like the environment, gender equality and crime prevention.

He dismissed allegations that his resigning was to pressure Samy Vellu not to take back former deputy president Datuk S. Subramaniam with whom he had never been close.

"I am not unhappy with him coming back. Subramaniam is a good old friend of mine. Datuk G. Palanivel is also a friend."

On his relationship with Samy Vellu, he said the party chief would always remain his friend and, "I will always be grateful to him".

He said this was not the first time he and Samy Vellu had locked horns as he had resigned from the board of directors of Maika Holdings during the Telekom shares issue.

"We had a disagreement and I resigned from the board of Maika years ago because I felt we were going nowhere. I did not speak to him and avoided him for nearly six months," he said.

Nijhar, who joined MIC in 1973, has also been party treasurer-general, CWC member and secretary-general.