Businessman KS Nallakaruppan wants his supporters to give him more time to decide on his next course of action.

"I know they are eager to know what my next plans are but I hope they would give me a little bit of extra time for me to think this thoroughly," he told malaysiakini when contacted today.

"Whatever decision I make, it will be for the good of the Indian community. It will be a decision which my supporters would support," he added.

He refused to comment if he was in talks with any political parties regarding his political future.

"Just bear with me and I will soon be making an important decision," he said.

Nallakaruppan, 61, resigned from opposition party PKR on May 25, citing the marginalisation of Indian members as his main grouse with the party leadership.

He also claimed that his good friend and party's de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim had not been forthright with him on several matters.

"I have been a friend of Anwar for more than 30 years but he had not been honest with me, especially on matters relating to the Ijok by-election and the contest for the party's vice presidency," he said.

Ironically, Nallakaruppan was brought into the party by Anwar last August to boost support among the Indian community. Nallakaruppan claimed that he had brought in more than 10,000 new Indian members to the party since then.

His resignation from the party also saw several grassroots leaders leaving the party in protest over the manner the Indians were being sidelined in the party.

Leaving in droves

One such leader is former Segambut division deputy head S Maniselvan, 38, who told malaysiakini that many Indian members had left the party in support of Nallakaruppan.

"These are not just Indian members who had joined the party because of him. Members who had been in the party since its inception too are leaving as they are all frustrated with the way they are treated," he said.

Over the past two weeks, more than 300 Indian PKR members nationwide are believed to have officially quit the party in support of Nallakaruppan. Many more members are said to have decided to quit without any official letters to the party headquarters.

The latest to join the exodus are some 200 members from Gombak in Selangor.

Led by the Gombak division's deputy head B Rajendran, these members called for a press conference on Wednesday to announce their departure from the party.

"We don't see a future in the party. We will wait to see what Nallakaruppan will do next," said 46-year-old Rajendran, who admitted that all these members had joined the party after being persuaded to do so by Nallakaruppan.

The Gombak division is headed by Azmin Ali, who is also a PKR vice-president.

And last night (Friday), about 30 Indian members from the Alor Gajah division in Malacca, led by its deputy head KSG Kannan, left the party.

"The Indian members are disillusioned in PKR. We have no hope in PKR and we have no confidence in the present leadership," said Kannan, 46, a party member since 2003.

"We now want Nallakaruppan to tell us how we should work to serve the community," said Kannan.

Maniselvan said that more Indian members would leave the party once they know Nallakaruppan's next course of action.

The party leadership has always maintained that all members are treated equally and had rejected claims of any marginalisation.