KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 21 — Padang Rengas MP Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today hit back at MIC president Tan Sri SA Vigneswaran’s "political prostitute” comment.

According to a report by Astro Awani, Nazri defended himself by saying that the phrase "political prostitute” is better applied when used to describe those who have made several attempts to capture a constituency but failed.

"I have heard that someone who has lost many times in Kota Raja is now trying to compete in Sungai Siput (Perak).

"People like this are the actual ‘political prostitute’ who are already rejected by voters but still aren’t self-aware.

"The type of person who has lost multiple times in one place and looks for opportunities elsewhere is not only a ‘prostitute’, but also a coward for running away.

"To me, the statement made by Vigneswaran no longer makes MIC look like a beggar but shows that he is a president without brains.

"It is better to be the division head in Padang Rengas and win six terms in a general election (GE) than to be the president of a party who loses two or three times and is now ‘whoring’ to get another seat,” the six-term Padang Rengas MP was quoted as saying.

Commenting further, Nazri said whenever he opposed his party’s decision, it was done in good faith and benefited Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN), which led to the current position of prime minister being held by someone from the party.

He added that the MIC president should realise that the 16 MPs who disobeyed the party’s instructions included Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is also the Bera MP.

Nazri then questioned if Vigneswaran would apply the "political prostitute” label to the prime minister.

He said that support for MIC and BN from the Indian community would depend on a sound explanation from Vigneswaran on the Malaysian Indian Community Transformation Unit (Mitra) fund.

"Mitra is the government’s effort to help the Indian people, but until today, the issue has not been answered by MIC.

"It is this issue that has caused the Indian community to lose confidence in MIC and BN to the point that they are willing to support other parties such as Pakatan Harapan,” he said.

Nazri said another matter that could influence the support for MIC and BN are the funds supposedly allocated to the Indian community to provide courses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This issue is also being talked about by the Indian community and it is said that it is already under investigation because the money has run out but not a single course has been conducted,” he said.

Describing the MIC president’s victory in the Johor state elections as living in an imaginary world, Nazri said that the victory was due to Malay support for Umno and not MIC’s own merits.

"They won in a seat where the majority of voters were Malays, so they won because the Malays came back to support Umno.

"When BN component parties contest, Malays vote because they think they are friends of Umno.

"If it really is great, MIC should ask for seats with a majority of Indian voters. If they win, then we can say that the Indian community has come back to support MIC,” he said.

Vigneswaran reportedly said yesterday that his party was not bothered by Nazri’s statement describing MIC as beggars who won the election courtesy of Umno.

The MIC president was then quoted by news portal Malaysiakini as saying that it is better to be a beggar than a political prostitute.

In GE14, MIC won two of the nine parliamentary and three of the 18 state seats it contested.