Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi has questioned the party's former secretary-general, Annuar Musa after his Ketereh Umno division called for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to immediately appoint a deputy prime minister (DPM) from among BN leaders.
Puad (photo, above) said Annuar and his cohorts used to say that one shouldn't ask for positions from the prime minister (PM) because that's his prerogative.
"Later, Umno was accused of being hungry for positions, but now there is a demand from Annuar for the position to be given immediately."
Muhyiddin, when taking office as Malaysia's eighth prime minister, took the unusual step of appointing four senior ministers - Azmin Ali, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Fadillah Yusof and Mohd Radzi Md Jidin. Azmin and Radzi are part of his Bersatu party.
"In a letter from Ketereh Umno dated March 19, which went viral yesterday, Annuar asked the PM to immediately appoint a DPM from among BN leaders, but who is he (the candidate)?
"Of course (Umno president) Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is not on Annuar's list.
"Is Annuar asking for a particular person who conspired with him or for himself?" asked Puad.
He said that if Muhyiddin had been sincere, he would have been given the DPM post to Umno a long time ago.
"So what is Annuar's agenda bringing up the issue now?
"Umno no longer needs to think about it. Umno, as the president insisted, needs to put a 'full stop' over the issue of the deputy prime minister's post.
"In the age of buying and threatening MPs to jump party, Umno should not be accused of wanting to sell out the party simply because of the post of DPM," said Puad, who speculated that the DPM offer was intended to get Umno to reverse its decision not to cooperate with Bersatu in the upcoming GE15.
Relations between the three largest parties in Muhyiddin's government are increasingly strained amidst reports that Zahid is working to detach his party from Muhyiddin's coalition. At the same time, PAS is caught in the middle between Bersatu and Umno.
Yesterday Johor Baru Umno chief and former MP Shahrir Samad took Arau MP Shahidan to task over the latter's suggestion that Perlis Umno was prepared to go it alone if the main party insisted on breaking with Bersatu.
Shahidan then said Perlis Umno had no intention of leaving, an apparent backtrack from his earlier remarks where he said that the state Umno would make its own decisions and was prepared to be expelled over it.
On Friday, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang said he was unconcerned over reports that Muafakat Nasional partner Umno might want to work with opposition party PKR.
"As long as they don't work with the communist party. They can work with whoever as long as it is a registered party.
"We cooperated (with PKR) in the past, and now we are working with Umno and Bersatu," he said.
"We already have more than 20 years of cooperating with PKR and DAP. That is enough," Hadi added.
PKR president Anwar Ibrahim met with Umno figures and did not rule out the possibility of working with the party.
Annuar had also taken a swipe at Zahid when the latter threatened stern action against at least two supreme council members who had allegedly "leaked" internal discussions over the matter. - Mkini
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