KUANTAN: Pahang Perikatan Nasional(PN) chairman Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah has slammed Pakatan Harapan(PH) over its continued personal attacks by character assassinating him during their 15th General Election(GE15) campaigns.
The Indera Mahkota incumbent member of parliament said he also received information that some quarters had engaged his former problematic officers who have been dismissed from their job to attack him as their campaign tool.
"PH has run out of ideas and seems fixated on attacking me… this is clearly seen when Rafizi Ramli(PKR deputy president) came twice to campaign in Indera Mahkota. In his ceramah(political speech), Rafizi mentioned he wanted to come here for quite some time but it's strange why he did not contest against me in Indera Mahkota?
"Even Anwar(Pakatan Harapan chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim) came once here to incite voters to go against me. The fact is they(PH) do not have a local candidate with the calibre to battle against me. Do you see me travelling to parliament Pandan or Tambun to attack Rafizi or Anwar?," he told reporters during a press conference at his office in Indera Mahkota here today.
Rafizi is contesting the Pandan parliament seat while Anwar is battling out in Tambun for GE15.
Saifuddin said he never resorted to such a campaign method as it was never his style.
He also questioned PH's lack of confidence in the ability of its 15th General Election(GE15) candidates to serve the people in Indera Mahkota.
"Bersatu president and Perikatan Nasional chairman (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) and Pas deputy president (Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man) have been campaigning here but never attacked(verbally) candidates contesting in Indera Mahkota. They only spoke about the manifesto and initiatives offered by PN," he said.
On Nov 12, Anwar during his ceramah in Beserah here had called upon voters in the Indera Mahkota parliamentary constituency to punish Saifuddin by voting him out, saying that Saifuddin contested and won the Indera Mahkota parliamentary seat under the PKR banner but decided to quit the party merely for his own personal interest and betrayed the party to safeguard his position.
Saifuddin, currently caretaker foreign minister, won the Indera Mahkota seat in GE14 but later quit the party to join Bersatu following the controversial Sheraton Move, which resulted in the collapse of the PH government in Feb 2020.
Meanwhile, on Pahang, Saifuddin said PN was confident of gaining a simple majority from the 42 state seats to conquer Pahang and end Barisan Nasional's dominance here.
"PN has been receiving strong support including at Felda settlements and judging by the current scenario, we are confident of winning 16 state seats. Pas narrowly lost in 11 state seats during the 14th general election and PN has been working on a strategy to win these seats.
"There will be a wave of change among the voters across Pahang on Nov 19 and PN believes the young voters will pledge their support to a party which has a clean track record. PN will continue to intensify its efforts in the final 48 hours before campaign ends as a lot of outstation voters will be returning home starting tonight," he said.