“Status quo for now,” he told reporters briefly at a press conference after clocking in for his first day as a deputy minister.

Ramanan, a first-term Sungai Buloh MP, was appointed as Mitra chairman in April this year.

The other members of the Mitra committee are former MIC leader C Sivaraj, DAP’s Klang MP V Ganabatirau, PKR’s Segamat MP R Yuneswaran and Mitra director-general K Raveendran Nair.

In its previous iteration under former prime minister Najib Razak, Mitra was known as the Socio-Economic Development of the Indian Community Unit or Sedic. It was formed in 2013.

Its objective was to strengthen the Indian community, particularly those in the B40 low-income group.

After Barisan Nasional’s defeat in 2018, it was renamed as Mitra by the Pakatan Harapan administration.