'I am waiting' - Dr M at Bersatu office ahead of rival sec-gen's presser

Dr Mahathir Mohamad is at the Bersatu headquarters in Petaling Jaya, where Hamzah Zainudin is scheduled to hold a press conference at 4pm.

Hamzah is the secretary-general of the faction aligned to Bersatu president Muhyiddin Yassin, which is at loggerheads with Mahathir's loyalists.

The press have since been informed that Hamzah will hold his press conference elsewhere.

In a Facebook posting, Mahathir, who is the disputed Bersatu chairperson, said: “They said they want to sack (me), I am waiting in the office."

A video showed the 95-year-old politician walking into the Bersatu chairperson's office and sitting at his desk.

Yesterday, Mahathir and four others were told by the Muhyiddin faction that their Bersatu memberships were nullified for sitting in the opposition bench in Parliament.

The five, including Mahathir's son Mukhriz, have disputed this. Hamzah's press conference is expected to address this issue.

At his own press conference later, Mahathir said he had come to the Bersatu headquarters to meet with the party's organising secretary Muhammad Suhaimi Yahya who had issued the five their termination letters.

"I wanted to meet this organising secretary who sacked me, but he didn't want to meet me.

"He promised that when Hamzah arrived they would meet me together, so I waited.

"However, now Hamzah will have his press conference elsewhere, not here. So now this organising secretary is also not coming," he said.

On the reason for their termination, Mahathir said that MPs are free to sit wherever they want in Parliament.

Redzuan Mohd Yusof 

Meanwhile, speculation is rife that a Bersatu minister will be resigning this evening.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Redzuan Md Yusof and Deputy Works Minister Shahruddin Mohd Salleh will be having a press conference at 5pm at the Bersatu headquarters as well.

If the two defect from the Perikatan Nasional coalition, this would result in a hung Parliament.

PN would be left with 111 MPs, against 111 MPs from the Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Pakatan Harapan and Warisan pact.

Bersatu had fractured into two after Muhyiddin took the party out of Harapan in February to form PN with Umno, BN and PAS.

Political pundits have predicted that PN would run into trouble with regard to electoral seats with Bersatu, Umno and PAS eyeing the same constituencies. It is unlikely that Umno would step aside for Bersatu in a general election.

Mahathir, on the other hand, has sounded the death knell for Bersatu. - Mkini