KMT, independents wooing disgraced TSU legislator Su

The KMT yesterday wasted no time in courting Legislator Su Yin-kuei (蘇盈貴), who was kicked out of the TSU on Monday.

"Su's remarkable performance in the Legislative Yuan was obvious to all," said KMT legislative leader Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進). "We cordially welcome Su to join us if he finds himself identifying with the KMT's ideals and is willing to stay faithful to the party."

"We hope that Su will take our offer into consideration," Lee said.

As well as the KMT, independent lawmakers also invited Su to join their caucus.

Su expressed his gratitude for the goodwill shown by his colleagues.

"I appreciate their friendly gestures," Su said. "But for now, I haven't thought about joining another party."

The TSU expelled Su on Monday for falsely accusing his comrade, TSU Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明), of illegal lobbying and damaging the party's image.

Although he criticized his former party and described its decision-making process as "orderless," Su nonetheless offered his best wishes to the TSU, saying that he hoped the party would grow to become more mature in the future.

Founded in 2001 by former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and now holding only 12 seats in the legislature, the TSU is preparing celebrations for its second anniversary on Saturday.

While the KMT and independent lawmakers rushed to invite Su to join them, the DPP kept its distance from the legislator expelled by its sister party.

When asked whether the DPP would try to persuade Su to join its legislative caucus, DPP caucus whip Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said there had been no discussion of the issue.

"We did not ask fellow DPP members about this issue nor hold any discussion about it," Chen said, adding that the DPP caucus would explore the matter later after the furor over Su's expulsion had died down.

In response to the pan-blue camp's overtures to Su, the TSU defended its decision to expel him and said he was free to do what he liked.

TSU legislative whip Chien Lin Whei-jun (錢林慧君) said Su was ill-tempered and often threw things at colleagues who disagreed with him during discussions of party policy.

He had also frequently voted against vital bills in defiance of the TSU's party line and the party could take no more, Chien Lin said.