Apologise for baseless attacks, Azmin told

A prominent PKR member also says that the deputy president has set a bad precedent by washing party's dirty linen in public

PETALING JAYA: A prominent PKR grassroots member today called on party deputy president Azmin Ali to apologise to Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismal for initiating baseless attacks against the party president.

“What Azmin did was really unhealthy for the party. And we, party members want him to apologise to Wan Azizah,” Dr V Neduchelian, a member from Kapar PKR division, told FMT.

He said by ‘attacking’ Wan Azizah in the mainstream media, Azmin had set a bad precedence which allows party members to use the media to criticise the party and its fellow leaders.

“All discussions involving party matters should be discussed behind closed doors . This is the advice given to us. But what surprises us, is that the same leader who propagates this uses the media to attack the president,” he added.

Recently, Azmin, who retained his Gombak parliamentary and Bukit Antrabangsa state seats, criticised the party leadership for nominating Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as the Selangor Menteri Besar without the consensus from Selangor PKR. Azmin is the Selangor PKR head.

Azmin said Wan Azizah had submitted a letter to the Selangor palace nominating Khalid Ibrahim before getting consensus from the state PKR leaders. He also accused the PKR president of nepotism.

“It is really weird that Azmin is talking about nepotism. In the last general election, he picked leaders aligned to him to contest seats. Those against him were not even given seats to contest. This is an open secret in PKR.

“Azmin is not fit to talk about nepotism or cronyism since he himself piggybacked on PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim’s popularity to reach where he is now,” he said.

He said Azmin only wants to strengthen his position in the party, especially with party polls slated for later this year.

Speculation is rife that PKR vice president and Lembah Pantai member of parliament Nurul Izzah Anwar would take on Azmin for the party number two post in the party elections.

Nurul Izzah, the eldest daughter of Anwar and Azizah, has now become a major threat to Azmin’s political ambition.

Neduchelian claimed Nurul Izzah’s popularity among party members, especially youths and from Sabah and Sarawak, has made Azmin ‘uncomfortable’.