Former MIC supremo Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said no one had the right to tell him when he should have retired as party chief.

"Nobody can tell me when I (should have retired) can retire. That is my fundamental right," he said when met at the open house hosted by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and cabinet ministers yesterday.

The media today reported excerpts from former prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's upcoming book, 'Awakening: The Abdullah Badawi Years in Malaysia', that Samy Vellu was asked to retire as MIC president, about a year before the 2008 General Election but he had flatly refused.

Asked to comment on his son, MIC strategic director Vell Paari's political future, Samy Vellu, who is also special envoy for infrastructure to India and South Asia, said: "My son does not consult me on anything involving politics. Our wave length is different."

On the coming MIC election, he said that as former party president, he should not talk about anything related to the party election, as the party was led by someone else (Datuk Seri G. Palanivel).

"Let him (Palanivel) bring in changes or whatever he wants. Since the last three years, I have never opened my mouth and said anything about the MIC. But I still continue to serve the people. I do my work, and go down to the ground and office.

"Everyday, more than 100 people come and see me because they know I can solve their problems," he noted.

On the party's deputy strategic director Datuk R. Ramanan's statement that he should not interfere with the upcoming party election, Samy Vellu, who was visibily upset with the question, said he did not wish to comment.

In early July, Samy Vellu had called on the party to open the top two posts for contest to rejuvenate the MIC leadership.