PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said he was offered one of the country's two top positions if he would join those who betrayed the party.
In a Facebook Live session today, the Port Dickson MP also rubbished speculation that he was eyeing to become the Selangor menteri besar.
Elaborating, Anwar said assurances were made to him should he wish to join the other side.
"In this current situation, if I wanted I could choose to join (them) and I was given assurances of a far better position.
"If it's not the prime minister, it's the deputy prime minister, there are those assurances," he said.
However, he said given his age and experience, he chose the "better path".
He did not make it clear who made those assurances and made the remarks while commenting on PKR taking action against those who have left the party or no longer believed in its principles.
In February, Anwar's then estranged deputy Azmin Ali and 10 MPs quit PKR and aligned themselves with Muhyiddin Yassin's Bersatu faction plus Umno, BN, and PAS to form Perikatan Nasional and seize federal control.
Following this, PKR embarked on a cleansing exercise against those aligned to Azmin, suspending 285 members including the party's Wanita chief Haniza Mohamed Talha. Another 348 members were given the boot.
In veiled jabs at Azmin, Anwar said the former was trying to obfuscate his own treachery by claiming that others were power-hungry.
"People say he was a traitor, it is turned around and said 'Anwar wants to be the Selangor menteri besar'.
"I've met with (Selangor menteri besar) Amirudin (Shari) and told the party leadership to give him their full cooperation and support to be menteri besar and carry out his duties," he said.
He added what needed to be changed in Selangor was to stop the abuse of power and self-enrichment which happened in the past.
Amirudin was a staunch ally of Azmin's but remained with Harapan after the latter defected.
Meanwhile, on who should be prime minister, Anwar said this should be discussed diligently.
"Let us discuss this diligently, we will decide. What is important is to avoid past mistakes. We must have someone who sticks to their promises, does not betray their duties, and is clean and not corrupt and can uplift the people," he said.
Anwar was supposed to succeed Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister when Harapan was still in power.
The issue of their transition was one of the reasons cited by Azmin on why he left PKR, although he ended up backing Muhyiddin as prime minister in the ensuing political crisis.
Anwar alluded to this, saying there was "someone" who wanted to defend Dr Mahathir Mohamad but ended up betraying the former prime minister.
That was the only mention of Mahathir during Anwar's live session as he did not touch on the nonagenarian and his allies being terminated from Bersatu yesterday. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.