KUALA LUMPUR: Former Umno leader Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah has denied involvement in a supposed plot to remove Mohamed Azmin Ali from his Selangor Menteri Besar's post.
Saifuddin, who left Umno to join PKR earlier this month, brushed aside the "Rawang Move" as a mere rumour.
"It is just a rumour. I am not ambitious. Besides, I am from Pahang," he told the New Straits Times when contacted today.
Saifuddin, who is former Temerloh member of parliament, said he fully supported Azmin's leadership as the head of the Selangor state government.
Saifuddin was commenting on an online post by political observer Datuk Markiman Kamsan that the Rawang assembly seat was going to be vacated to pave the way for the former Umno supreme council member to replace Azmin, who was appointed Selangor MB following the failure of the "Kajang Move" in March last year.
Markiman had claimed that rumours about the "Rawang Move" and the increasingly concerted effort to unseat Azmin were rampant among PKR members.
"Many are saying that Azmin will be unseated as Selangor MB and it is said that efforts towards that are being intensified.
"Maybe this time PKR is executing the Rawang Move and it is believed that Rawang assemblyman will vacate the seat to enable a by-election to be held to make way for Saifuddin to become the new MB," Markiman claimed in a post that had been published in several political blogs.
He also claimed that Azmin's leadership was rejected by many PKR members and leaders.
Rawang assemblyman Gan Pei Nei on Thursday, however, denied the rumour.
Besides Gan, Azmin had also denied that Saifuddin was being primed to replace him as Selangor MB.
Azmin had said there was no truth to the allegation, adding that he had not heard of it.
"Please do not trust such speculations. I have never heard about this. It is not true," he said when met after attending the State Economic Action Council in Shah Alam on Thursday.