Zahid said Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s scheduled meeting with the Indian-based party tomorrow was a regular meeting.

“As prime minister, he (regularly) meets with the 19 parties in the unity government,” he said at a programme with BN’s Bagan Pinang and Linggi candidates Najib Isa and Faizal Ramli, respectively.

Yesterday, FMT reported that Anwar would meet MIC leaders over the alleged “ill-treatment” of the party by Umno.

An MIC source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the party was unhappy with the way it was treated by Umno, its Barisan Nasional partner, during seat negotiations for the elections in six states.

Umno is the dominant party in BN, which also includes MCA and several other minor parties.

The alleged mistreatment is said to have taken place prior to MIC deciding to sit out the six state elections.

Zahid said despite not contesting, MIC and MCA were still helping with BN’s campaign, which he said was a positive development.

“We held a ‘war room’ meeting, with representatives from MCA and MIC present, and they said they had mobilised their entire machinery in these six states,” the Umno president said.

The state elections are being held in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Kedah, Terengganu, and Kelantan.