KUANTAN: Bentong Umno has defended its call to contest the Ketari state seat in the upcoming 16th General Election (GE16), currently held by DAP.
Its division acting chief Datuk Seri Mohamad Zaini Salleh said that the request stemmed from grassroots feedback, expressing hopes to see Umno field a candidate in Ketari.
"While each division has the right to voice their aspirations, the final decision rests with Barisan Nasional (BN) and Umno's leadership."
"Bentong Umno has its own justification for making the request as we had contested in the Malay-majority constituency during the last general election in 2022 and our candidate lost by a 120 slim majority. Maybe, Umno should be considered for Ketari in GE16," he said when contacted today.
Zaini, in his speech during the Bentong Umno division delegates meeting on July 8, had requested for the Ketari state seat to be given to the party to contest in GE16. The seat is currently held by DAP's Thomas Su Keong Siong.
However, his announcement did not go down well with Pahang DAP chairman Datuk Leong Ngah Ngah who felt that discussions on seats must be done internally and not in public as they were now part of the unity government.
Su described Zaini's statement as uncalled for and felt that the focus had to be on discussing seats currently held by Perikatan Nasional, not those held by parties within the unity government.
Meanwhile, Zaini said Bentong Umno was open to the idea to engage in seat swap talks regarding Ketari with DAP but any decision would be made by those in the party hierarchy.