A group of senior and influential leaders in Umno gathered to broker a deal that would see president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi step down amicably as early as 2020.
According to Pasir Salak MP Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, among the leaders present were former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak, Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan and Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin.
He said during the meeting held in May 2020, it was agreed that Zahid should go, and they were to collect the signatures of Umno division leaders from across the country on a memorandum to be sent to the president.
The former Umno Supreme Working Council member who was sacked last week added that the plan fell through after Mohamad Hasan and Najib bailed.
Tajuddin claimed that the former Negeri Sembilan menteri besar was “intimidated” by Zahid, his senior in the party hierarchy.
He told a press conference today that the meeting took place at his house in May 2020.
“Who were the leaders? Tok Mat (Mohamad) and Bossku (Najib).
“They asked me to survey the grassroots to see how many division heads agreed. If I’m not mistaken, there were 130 divisions (nationwide) that agreed.
“Tok Mat agrees, Najib agrees. Why did it not happen? Because Tok Mat is the leader who backed out, he said.
Najib strayed from the plan
Tajuddin claimed that Najib, on the other hand, had strayed from the group’s plan.
The Pekan MP allegedly started eyeing the post of Barisan Nasional chairperson, which is being held by Zahid.
Tajuddin said Najib, who also goes by the moniker Bossku, agreed to help him engage Umno leaders to get their support for the memorandum.
“Bossku agreed to help me, which was good because he has many followers. So we decided that Bossku was to call his followers to support our movement.
“Then he called his supporters for a session, where we listened to speeches. But then, the tone had changed: Instead of calling for Zahid to resign, they wanted to ask Bossku to be made BN chairperson.
“I am telling you the true story here, lillahi taala (I swear to God). I asked Najib what was happening. But he (Najib) did not say anything. He was happy people mooted him to be BN chairperson.
“And he thought Zahid would be willing to give him the position?,” Tajuddin said sarcastically before bursting into laughter.
Tajuddin, who is now in his fourth term as an MP, claimed that the May 2020 meeting was called as many Umno leaders and members had deemed Zahid unfit to continue leading the party.
According to him, Zahid only managed to maintain his popularity as Umno president for about five to six months after taking over from Najib in 2018 before losing his appeal.
“This was why we gathered all our friends to have a discussion about our party president, and we decided that he should step down honourably. Because if he does not, we do not know what will happen to our party.” - Mkini
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