Bersatu lawmaker Shahruddin Salleh had a brief meeting with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Yayasan Al-Bukhary in Kuala Lumpur this evening.
The meeting came in the wake of the Sri Gading MP tendering his resignation as deputy works minister.
Met by Malaysiakini as he left the building, Shahruddin confirmed his resignation but sidestepped a question on whether he still supported the Perikatan Nasional government.
“Lain kali jawab soalan media (I will answer questions from the media next time),” he replied.
Although he failed to shed light on his current stand, a 51-second video posted on Mahathir's Twitter account suggested that he had switched camps.
The video was captioned “Selamat Kembali (Welcome back).”
Prior to Shahruddin entering the building, Malaysiakini spotted vehicles belonging to DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng and organising secretary Anthony Loke leaving the premises.
Earlier, a statement attributed to Shahruddin was circulated on social media, in which the Bersatu MP stated that he made a “political mistake” in supporting PN.
According to the statement, Shahruddin said he should have acknowledged that the voters in Sri Gading cast their ballots for Pakatan Harapan in the last general election.
"In my first step to rectify this mistake (of supporting PN), I have tendered my resignation because I was appointed by the prime minister (Muhyiddin Yassin) and PN government," it read.
However, Shahruddin's purported resignation letter was also circulated. In this letter, it is mentioned that he would continue as a PN backbencher.
Both the statement and resignation letter could not be verified.
If Shahruddin withdraws his support for Muhyiddin and PN, the nascent alliance would be left with a single seat advantage.
Bersatu is faced with an internal feud between Muhyiddin, who is the party president, and Mahathir, the disputed chairperson.
Based on the last Parliament sitting on May 18, it was revealed that PN only has a two-seat majority while Harapan has hinted that it possesses sufficient numbers to reclaim Putrajaya.
PN stormed into power following a political coup in late February after Muhyiddin withdrew Bersatu from Harapan, triggering the collapse of the coalition's 22-month-old government.
Following a week-long political crisis, Muhyiddin was sworn in as the eighth prime minister after forming the PN alliance with Umno, BN, PAS and GPS. - Mkini
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