Zahid wants to be seen as hero over ‘offer’ to leave unity govt, says Shahril

 

Shahril Hamdan (left) said Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s claim that BN was offered to lead a new government with the opposition, and that he would be given the prime minister’s job, was only to ‘spruce up his image’.

PETALING JAYA: 

A former Umno leader has suggested that deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s claim of attempts to persuade Barisan Nasional to leave the unity government and his subsequent response was made to spruce up his image.

Shahril Hamdan said the narrative was meant to make him look like a hero.

“He comes off as a saviour (of the unity government) by rejecting the prime minister’s post for the greater good,” the former Umno information chief said in the latest episode of the Keluar Sekejap podcast this evening.

He said building a narrative that makes Zahid look like a hero is one of the Umno president’s strengths.

And such narratives were something Umno members crave for, he said.

Last week, Zahid claimed that there were efforts by opposition MPs to persuade BN to quit the unity government and form a new administration.

He also claimed that he was offered the prime minister’s post.

Zahid, who is the BN chairman, said however that he was unwilling to betray his allies in the unity government.

Shahril said it was irrelevant whether there was any truth to Zahid’s claims. “What’s important is the narrative he is pushing.”

Shahril’s co-host, Khairy Jamaluddin, said he does not think a “parallel universe” exists where someone offered Zahid the prime minister’s post.

The former Umno Youth chief said a more likely scenario was that Zahid may have bumped into opposition MPs at the Dewan Rakyat and one of them may have jokingly suggested that he form a new government.

“Maybe this is the ‘offer’ that Zahid meant,” he said. - FMT