ARAU: Ahead of the 15th General Election (GE15), all eyes are on the fate of two seasoned Umno politicians who have been colouring the Perlis political landscape over the past three decades.
This is following speculation that Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim and his sidekick Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin may not be fielded by Barisan Nasional (BN) to defend the Arau and Padang Besar parliamentary seats, respectively, in the upcoming polls.
A source close to the party said, based on talk within Umno's inner circles, there will be two scenarios with regards to the fate of the two big guns.
The first is both of them would be dropped, while in the second scenario, Zahidi is to be dropped from the candidates list while Shahidan will be allowed to defend the Arau seat for a fifth term.
However, it was learnt that Shahidan's chances now hang in the balance, as BN is mulling the possibility of fielding a fresh face in Arau.
"There is a possibility that BN will field a new candidate to compete with Pakatan Harapan's young candidate.
"As for Padang Besar, rumours are rife that BN is contemplating fielding a female candidate from the Umno division.
"However, as for now, this is purely speculation as the final decision lies with the national BN leadership," the source said.
BN is expected to announce its candidates for the 222 parliamentary seats for the GE15 tomorrow.
Shahidan had won the Arau parliamentary seat in four general elections since 1986.
The former Perlis menteri besar had also served as the Tambun Tulang assemblyman — a seat in the Arau constituency — for four terms between 1995 and 2008.
Zahidi, meanwhile, was elected as the Padang Besar MP in 2013 and defended the seat in GE14.
Prior to that, he had served as the Beseri assemblyman for two terms beginning 1999.