GEORGETOWN - The relationship between the Penang Caretaker Government and Deputy Chief Minister II, P Ramasamy has never been problematic and is still strong.
Its caretaker Chief Minister, Chow Kon Yeow said, his relationship with both DAP members Ramasamy and M Satees (former Bagan Dalam state assemblyman and at the time of writing former DAP member), is good.
"Ramasamy and Satees are still in contact with me. I have no problem with them and some Independent candidates even support me," he said when met after the mock cheque presentation ceremony for the Allocation of the World Heritage Site Preservation Program recognized by Unesco to Penang island and Melaka here on Friday.
Earlier, Ramasamy who is also the Penang DAP Deputy Chairman denied that he had resigned from all positions and left the party after being unhappy when he was dropped from the list of candidates for this state elections.
When asked to comment on the actions of Ramasamy and Satees who have 'attacked' DAP following their dissatisfaction with the results of the DAP candidate list for the state polls, Kon Yeow who is also the Penang DAP Chairman said that the list of candidates had been finalised at the Central Executive Committee level.
"The issue of being kicked out or not does not arise in this matter, except if its a disciplinary process. and I am not saying there is. If it was someone who runs as an Independent candidate or is a candidate of another party, it is assumed his membership would be terminated.
"The responsibility of the candidate selection sub-committee at the state level is to conduct interviews of the candidates given by the branch and so on. Once selected, the list of names will be submitted to the Center for consideration to finalise the list of candidates.
"It is true that there are several names proposed by the state that did not get chosen, There are also some that were chosen, even though not suggested by the state. This is why there is dissatisfaction among party members," he said.
In the meantime, Kon Yeow denied that there are individuals behaving like 'Emperorsr' in DAP who determine the list of candidates to compete in the state elections.
"I reiterate that the list is made by the candidate selection sub-committee at the state level and then the list is submitted to the center for of which, I am not part of the committee.
"There is no such thing of people using their power to make their own decisions, including turning their backs on the list issued by the secretary general and approved by the state DAP," he stressed
Kon Yeow also said that if re-elected by the people to become the Chief Minister of Penang, he would have to form a new line exco line up
"I need to form a new line of exco's because many former excos are no longer candidates, this is to avoid any interruption for the work that is being done.
"Last term, we came up with the Penang 2030 Vision, we indded have many targets, projects and programmes to be implemented across our respective portfolios. Therefore, there needs to be a new line of excos to continue the work set under the Penang 2030 Vision," he explained.