Amid speculation on the formation of new Indian parties, Ramanan reiterated that he remained fully committed to his current party.

“I am from PKR and I don’t need another political party. I serve the prime minister,” he said at a press conference here.

However, he maintained that Malaysians were free to pursue their own political or personal aspirations, including setting up new political parties.

“It’s a free country. Whatever you want to do within the laws, you can go ahead (with it), but stop using the prime minister’s name,” said the chairman of the Malaysian Indian Transformation Unit’s (Mitra) special committee.

This comes after the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued a statement to deny that Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim personally supported or endorsed the establishment of new political parties.

The statement came after Malaysiakini quoted businessman P Thiagarajan, who is said to be close to Anwar, as planning to set up a new Indian-majority political party.

Thiagarajan reportedly said he had informed Anwar about the matter and that the prime minister told him to “go ahead”.

“Whatever feedback from today, I will inform him (Anwar) soon. The final decision is in his hands. Don’t worry, we hope for the best from our prime minister,” he reportedly said.

Sources told FMT last month that as many as three new Indian political parties are in various stages of formation following recent election setbacks for Indian political leaders.

A Perikatan Nasional source said one Indian party was in the pipeline while another source said an Indian party aligned with Pakatan Harapan was imminent. Talks on the formation of another PN-friendly party is said to be at an early stage.