‘There are no factions in Umno’

Umno permanent chairman Badruddin Amiruldin and veep Mohd Shafie Apdal say Najib has the backing of all party members.

KUALA LUMPUR: PAS has run of issues that it has resorted to claiming the existence of a move in Umno to topple party president Najib Tun Razak, said Umno permanent chairman Badruddin Amiruldin.

He said that claim made by PAS secretary-general Mustafa Ali at a news conference here today, showed that PAS was deliberately creating an issue to make Umno appear divided when it was actuallly solidly behind Najib.

“How can a party president (Najib) be a liability to the party whose performance has been improving?” he said to Bernama today.

He was commenting on Mustapa’s statement that Umno had created the issue of Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah to be replacing Anwar Ibrahim as Opposition Leader to cover up Umno’s own internal issues and the serious move within Umno to bring down Najib before the 13th general election.

Badruddin said until now, Umno was still the strongest party where each party member was loyal to the president, deputy president and vice-presidents.

“There are no factions in Umno, and I ask that he (Mustafa) watch his mouth and not lie during this holy month of Ramadan,” he said.

Badruddin said Najib “is a good listener and we see now that not only the party members are supporting him, but the people as well”.

Umno vice-president Mohd Shafie Apdal regards PAS’ claim about Najib and Umno as the opposition’s dirty politics aimed at weakening and dividing Umno.

“The claim is not true. The prime minister is not a liability. This has been proven by BN’s victory in several by-elections,” he told Bernama.

Mohd Shafie said Umno was now on the right track in winning back public support for the party.

“I believe the prime minister is well accepted by all quarters, including the general public,” he said.