Umno Supreme Council member Isham Jalil said he had “no idea” when asked about the matter.

“I have no idea. I think they are still working out the seat allocation.

“They are old friends, so I think we will stick together for GE15,” he said at the Umno headquarters tonight.

He was asked if it was a sign that MIC would be pulling out of the coalition after the Indian-based party said that it would decide on Wednesday if it would contest in GE15.

BN announced their list of candidates on Tuesday night but MIC leaders, including its president SA Vigneswaran, were absent from the event.

The coalition’s chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had named Vigneswaran as the coalition’s candidate for the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat.

Earlier, FMT reported that MIC leaders would meet on Wednesday to decide if the party would be contesting in GE15.

According to a report by The Malaysian Insight, Vigneswaran said an emergency meeting would be held to decide if MIC would accept or reject the seats offered to it or stay out of GE15.

Vigneswaran was quoted as saying he did not want the party to be drawn further into the matter.

Meanwhile, BN treasurer-general Hishammuddin Hussein said he didn’t think what MIC did was a big deal.

“That’s not a big issue because Nov 5 is nomination day. Like (Sabah BN), they decided to announce their candidates in the next few days.

“So I think it’s all right for MIC to do the same,” he said.

He added that he would not entertain “rumours” that MIC would be pulling out of BN.