KIMANIS: The crossovers of several Umno members to Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) these past few days are merely "wayang" (for show).
Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin said the party's 235 divisions are still intact with the same number of members.
The Kinabatangan member of parliament said that after Barisan Nasional's (BN) defeat in the 14th General Election, Umno had filtered out its membership members.
"We are checking everyday, based on Kimanis division (leaders), those who crossed to Warisan have been cancelled from the party's (Umno) membership," he said, claiming that these individuals had actually joined Warisan some time ago.
Bung Moktar said this at a press conference today where 200 people left Warisan to join.
Present was Umno supreme council member Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan.
Commenting on the Kimanis by-election, Bung Moktar expressed confidence that the party has about 14,000 BN supporters out of the 29,664 electorates in the parliamentary constituency.
As for the ex-Warisan members, the party would sort their membership out after the Kimanis by-election this Saturday.
"These additional members will strengthen BN to win the by-election besides our machinery will also go to the ground to garner support."