Anwar: Harapan did explore Dr M option, but he doesn't have numbers either

Pakatan Harapan did discuss Dr Mahathir Mohamad as a second option for prime minister, said PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

He said this was suggested in order to secure the numbers to take over Putrajaya. 

However, Anwar said that Mahathir does not have the numbers at the moment either.

Addressing his supporters via Facebook live, Anwar said DAP and Amanah had never strayed from supporting him to become prime minister.

"But what is clear now is that we don't have the numbers. So our friends (DAP and Amanah) said, 'In that case Anwar, can we think of a second option, that is to give room to Mahathir?

"Some believe that Mahathir can get the numbers, but to this day it has not materialised," he added.

Anwar, however, did not say whether PKR or Harapan as a group agreed to this second option during the meeting.

He did say that PKR could not agree with making Mahathir the prime minister, and that there was apprehension due to past experiences in dealing with the nonagenarian.

Anwar also said the fact that conditions were set to make sure Mahathir resigned in six months showed that DAP and Amanah also did not fully trust him.

Previously DAP and Amanah said the Harapan presidential council had endorsed Anwar as prime minister during the May 30 meeting.

They added it was also agreed that the fallback was for Mahathir to become prime minister if Anwar couldn't get the numbers to form the government.

Part of the reason cited was that the PKR chief had failed in a bid to secure GPS support. 

Anwar tonight said he was in Sarawak on Tuesday to meet "old friends" who had invited him to the state.

He did not say who those old friends were and refused to comment on whether GPS had rejected him as was reported by The Malaysian Insight.

"People say GPS rejected Anwar, I leave that to GPS, they are an independent party representing the people of Sarawak who should be free to determine their stance.

"I don't want to say more on that, other than to say that our efforts are ongoing," he added.

Anwar said PKR has not given up on wanting to retake power from PN, but that they would not resort to buying or threatening MPs.

"We hope to attract the interest of our MP friends, from all sides, to save the country and economy," he said.

Previously, PKR chief whip Johari Abdul revealed that Anwar had met with several leaders in the “other bloc” previously, including Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, Home Affairs Minister Hamzah Zainuddin and Sarawak state leaders.  - Mkini