JERLUN: Embattled Kedah Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir has challenged those who questioned his leadership to find someone who is accepted by the rakyat to become the next MB.
He said he would gladly step aside if his replacement has the full mandate of the rakyat.
The Jerlun Umno division chief also voiced his undivided loyalty to Umno, and said he has no intention of leaving the party.
Mukhriz said no one should raise the issue of him quitting the party for another.
"Whatever I have been doing is to strengthen the party to face the 14th general election. It is my responsibility to increase more state seats and wrest back all parliamentary seats.
"As such, my loyalty to Umno is undivided... No one should make any assumption that I am looking to jump to another party.
"In fact, I will continue to work hard to ensure Kedah remains with Barisan Nasional in the next general election. We will win with style," he told more than 300 division leaders and members at the Jerlun Umno division meeting this afternoon.
Mukhriz said for him to do so, he needed the cooperation of everyone.
"If Kedahans no longer support me, I will step down on my own accord.
"But if they support me, I hope that they will continue to lend their support to ensure whatever strategies I have set forth for Kedah proceeds as planned," he added.
Mukhriz pledged to 'fight on' if there were any attempt to remove him through improper means, and said he was not concerned with the 14 division chiefs who were no longer with him.
"What is important is that the two million Kedahans are behind me and I only want the best for them," he stressed.
He also cautioned that two years would not be sufficient for a new leader to coax and win the hearts of the people.
He added that everything had been moving well in the past two-and-a-half years and that he should be allowed to continue his work.
Yesterday, Kedah Umno deputy chairman) Datuk Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah and a number of state Umno leaders had announced that they no longer had confidence in Mukhriz's leadership as the MB and Umno chief.
Mukhriz, they claimed, had failed to unite the state leadership and had not administered the state well since assuming the role of MB in 2013.
They had asked for Umno president Datuk Seri Najib Razak, who is also Prime Minister, to intervene in the matter.