Vellu flayed this remark after his team swept the MIC polls. An overzealous delegate demanded that a 'shoe garland' be placed around Mahathir's portrait. Vellu suspended him and apologised to Mahathir.

'I will meet him (Mahathir) personally to explain the whole episode and extend my apology,' Vellu said in a statement, The Star reported Friday.

Mahathir said he did not feel anything about the incident and added: 'Nothing would have happened to me.'

Mahathir, who stepped down in 2003, said he had 'a right' to criticise Vellu, or anyone, for the sake of BN's future.

Known for his acerbic tongue, Mahathir had run a campaign against his hand-picked successor, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

Badawi stepped down as the prime minister in April after the coalition fared badly in the election.

'Malaysian leaders still do not understand that when they fail they should resign of their own volition, no need for others to tell them. When you fail, your party fails. You are responsible,' he said.

Mahathir said: 'Samy Vellu performed worse than Pak Lah (Badawi) but he did not want to relinquish the post. He should have resigned before things got to this stage.

'I've criticised Pak Lah, who's Samy Vellu that I cannot criticise?'

Badawi's successor and present Prime Minister Najib Tn Razak who addressed the MIC assembly last Saturday also asked the party leaders to 'reach out to the Indian community' and win back their support.

It was not enough to be popular within party ranks, he told the MIC leaders in a apparent reference to internecine squabbles.

They should not be seen as 'arrogant', Razak told them.