SHAH ALAM: Pas has been left out in a series of discussions carried out by Selangor Pakatan Harapan (PH) in relation to the 14th general election seat allocations.
Selangor Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) chairman Izham Hashim said the state PH had a meeting on the matter yesterday and the Islamist party never cropped up during discussion.
"Datuk Seri Azmin Ali (Selangor PH chairman) chaired the meeting and the issue of Pas did not arise. For us, Pas in not in the equation. Our discussions on parliamentary seats is almost concluded and we have started deliberating on state constituency seats.
"Pas is not in our formula and there are no signs that they would want to come onboard with us in PH," said Izham today.
Izham was met during a break at the Wacana Pendidikan Nasional 2017 organised by PAN in cooperation with Institut Darul Ehsan.
Despite the hostility shown by Pas, Izham said that PAN and Pakatan Harapan are still open to discussions with the party.
He said they will still welcome Pas , if they want to form a united opposition front in their fight against Barisan Nasional (BN) and to take over the federal government.
Izham also shot down any possibility of any talks via the backdoor with Pas.
"Recently, Selangor Pas commissioner (Sallehen Mukhyi) said if PAN president Mohamad Sabu were to contest here, they would not discuss matters related to seats with us. But who is he to dictate so when they are not part of PH?
"We will leave it to them to decide. We have made the offer (to discuss) and we will continue to do so. For us, our strategy is simple where we want the general election to be straight fights between PH and BN.
“But if we were to form cooperation with Pas, we must thread this carefully and impose strict and tight conditions. There must be sincerity in working together. We do not want to have any last minute backdoor arrangements that would betray us in the form of two or three corner fights," said Izham.
Meanwhile, Izham added that PAN is aiming to contest in at least 15 state constituency seats in Selangor and are set to take over the seats previously contested by Pas.
Asked if PAN would contest in constituency seats such as Cempaka and Sabak currently held by Pas vice-president Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad and Sallehen respectively, Izham said it was immaterial.
"Our aim is to fight BN and win. We do not want to go against Pas to see if they or PAN is the stronger party. Winnability is the main priority."
-ends
KEYWORDS: Pas, Pakatan Harapan, Parti Amanah Negara, Izham Hashim, 14th general election, seat allocations, Barisan Nasional