SHAH ALAM: Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali today took a swipe at Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad for criticising Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's remarks on mending ties with Pas.
“I would like to remind Dr Mahathir that Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is Pakatan Harapan’s de facto leader. He is not just Parti Keadilan’ Rakyat’s de facto leader,” Azmin told reporters after launching the Selangor International Business Summit 2017, here today.
Azmin, who is also PKR deputy president, said as the party’s de facto leader, Anwar has the right to air his views and offer suggestions on party matters.
Anwar had earlier expressed his views of wanting the opposition coalition to continue engaging with Pas.
Following this, Dr Mahathir said the opposition pact is having 'a little problem' with PKR, in that they have been sending mixed messages in terms of their plans in teaming up with Pas.
Dr Mahathir had explained that if Pas joined Pakatan Harapan, it would also cause trouble as Pas would demand to contest in each seat they had contested before.
Recently, Azmin was involved in a public spat with party vice-president Rafizi Ramli over the issue. Azmin had insisted on having cooperation with Pas in order to avoid three-cornered fights in GE14, while Rafizi disagreed.
Rafizi had said that Azmin's move to mend ties with Pas should be done collectively through a national congress, in accordance with the party's constitution.
He had claimed that the differences over whether to cooperate with Pas to maintain control of Selangor had split the party and had caused confusion among grassroots members.