Selangor PAS has reportedly offered former Selangor Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim a state seat for the coming 14th general election, this time without conditions.
According to state PAS commissioner Sallehen Mukhyi, the seat will be given without requiring Khalid, who has admitted to supporting both PAS and Umno in the coming polls, to join the Islamist party.
“I feel there will no need for Khalid to join PAS at the moment, maybe he is not comfortable doing that now.
“If he wants to contest under PAS or an independent ticket, both ways, we will support him. We will be able to find a suitable constituency for him.
“If he wants to contest as an independent candidate where Selangor PAS will field a representative, we could consider not contesting there and instead, pave the way for Khalid,” Sallehen (photo) was reported telling New Straits Times last night.
He said Khalid has always had good relations with PAS even when he was PKR’s Selangor menteri besar.
PAS had also backed him when he was sacked by the party in 2014, during the protracted crisis when he refused to give way to then party president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to take over as menteri besar.
From the time of his sacking until PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s eventual ascent to the office, Khalid remained menteri besar as an independent, with an exco comprising several PAS excos including Sallehen, despite Wan Azizah having obtained a simple majority in the state assembly.
‘Umno friendship a tactic’
Sallehen said Khalid pledging support for Umno as well would not be a problem, and saw it as a tactic to gain support.
“Khalid has many friends in Umno and I see it as of him trying to woo them to vote for PAS in the next general election. I see it as a strategy to garner votes.
“This is because PAS definitely cannot depend solely on support and votes from its own party members.
“We need the support from members of other political parties as well as on-the-fence voters,” he was reported as telling the BN-linked daily.
NST also reported Selangor Umno liaison committee deputy chief Mat Nadzari Ahmad Dahlan as saying Khalid’s support for PAS would not be a problem, as it would help to “successfully topple the Pakatan Harapan government”.
He claimed Khalid was not being vindictive, but purportedly wants to show the rakyat that it is time to change the state government, claiming Azmin's administration has "failed."
"I do not see Khalid’s action as bitter or an act of revenge against the Pakatan Harapan government but a change for the better,” Nadzari was reported as saying.
Last August, Singapore's Straits Times claimed Prime Minister Najib Razak and PAS president Abdul Hadi have been in “near-daily contact for several months”, allegedly to discuss an electoral pact to capture Selangor in the coming general election.
Quoting sources, the report said the two parties would court Khalid as their candidate to run the state should they succeed.
However, there are also allegations a number of Selangor PAS representatives are unhappy with their party’s friendship with Umno and animosity against Pakatan Harapan, and are contemplating abandoning the party, although state PAS leaders have denied this.- Mkini
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