SHAH ALAM: Selangor MB Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali is still negotiating with the state’s Pas leaders in an attempt to form cooperation ahead of the 14th General Election (GE14) without the knowledge of other Pakatan Harapan leaders.
This claim was made by former Selangor Pas secretary Norman Toha, who said that Azmin had chaired the meetings with several Selangor Pas leaders.
“Based on the information I received, the meetings with the Pas leaders were set up by Azmin himself as he is hoping for cooperation between both parties.
“Azmin did not meet all leaders or all Pas state assemblymen, but just several key Selangor Pas leaders.
“These discussions were not between Pas and Pakatan Harapan, but between PKR and Pas. This is because PKR is still hoping that Pas would join forces with the opposition bloc for GE14,” he told Berita Harian.
According to Norman, Azmin who is also PKR deputy president had consistently sought cooperation with Pas to the point where he would defend Pas Excos in the Selangor administration although DAP and Parti Amanah Negara (PAN) were against them.
Norman also claimed that the reason Azmin did so was because he was not confident with PAN’s ability.
“Azmin’s action would definitely anger PAN and DAP,” he added.
The New Straits Times had tried to reach Azmin for comments on Norman’s claims. Attempts to contact him however failed.
Recently Azmin had offered his Gombak Parliamentary seat for Pakatan Harapan chairman Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad to contest in, which the former prime minister rejected.
His offer to Dr Mahathir raised speculation that the reason Azmin did so was because he wasn’t confident he could win the seat this time around.
In the last general election, it was reported that Azmin managed to maintain the Gombak seat thanks to the support showed by Pas leaders who had helped with the campaigning.
At the time, Pas was part of the now-defunct Pakatan Rakyat. However the Islamic party left the pact in 2015 and recently created a third bloc called Gagasan Sejahtera.
Translated from Berita Harian