ALOR STAR: A Pas leader today dismissed a rumour that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad will form a political pact with Perikatan Nasional (PN) only if Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir is made menteri besar after the state election.
Kedah State Legislative Assembly backbencher chairman Mohd Azam Abd Samat said the claim is baseless and that PN has not formed a pact with Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang).
"PN (does) not even have a pact with Pejuang. Perhaps it is PH (Pakatan Harapan) that is looking for an MB candidate," he said in a brief text reply accompanied by a smiley emoji.
Azam was responding to a digital poster that read: "PRN Kedah: Mukhriz ready to be MB again.." The message which has gone viral today claimed that former premier Dr Mahathir set a condition to PN for Mukhriz to be made the Menteri Besar after the state election.
For the record, Dr Mahathir who was the former Pejuang chairman had left the party after the 15th General Election (GE15) held in November.Pejuang suffered a massive blow in the GE15 after Dr Mahathir and all candidates from the party, including Mukhriz who is also the its president, lost in the polls and even failed to keep their deposits.
Early this year, it was reported that Mukhriz had tried to explore the possibilities of forming a pact with PH but had later submitted an application to join PN.However, PN rejected Pejuang's application without explaining the reasons for doing so.
It is believed that the viral message has surfaced following Dr Mahathir's remarks last Tuesday that he would be meeting PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who is also Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) president to discuss about working together in the upcoming six state elections. Mahathir had said this after chairing a roundtable discussion on the Malay Proclamation which were attended by Pas president Tan Sri Abdul Hadi Awang, its secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan, former Barisan Nasional secretary-general Tan Sri Annuar Musa and former Ampang member of parliament Datuk Zuraida Kamaruddin.