Najib accuses Mahathir of lying about reasons he resigned as PM

Former prime minister (PM) Najib Abdul Razak today accused his successor Dr Mahathir Mohamad of lying about the latter's real reason for his resignation as the country's seventh premier.

This came after Mahathir earlier today claimed that he had resigned in February because he did not want to be the PM of a coalition government that includes Umno and Najib.

In response to Mahathir, Najib then alleged that the Langkawi MP had other reasons for resigning but instead blamed him for it.

"There are three main reasons why he (Mahathir) resigned as PM.

"He does not want Anwar (Ibrahim) to be prime minister, he does not want to be controlled by DAP and PKR anymore, and he was worried that Bersatu and Harapan would lose badly in the 15th general election," Najib posted on Facebook.

He claimed that Mahathir also did not inform his allies in Pakatan Harapan about his decision and reasons to resign before doing so.

"After resigning on Feb 24, he was never angry at Bersatu or Muhyiddin (Yassin) or anyone. This was until the evening of Feb 29.

"He even ignored Harapan's request to have a meeting a day after he resigned to discuss how they could save the Harapan government," Najib claimed.

The BN advisory council chairperson also claimed that these were also the same reasons why Mahathir (photo) had wanted to form a unity government.

Should Mahathir have succeeded in forming one, Najib stressed, the disputed Bersatu chairperson would be able to pick and choose any MPs he wants without being restricted by party boundaries.

According to Najib, this would purportedly allow Mahathir to deny Anwar from getting to be PM and stripping the PKR president's control over his own party and DAP.

"However, his plan failed because BN, PAS, and GPS had rejected to work with DAP.

"Just admit that was your original plan. At least be honest, please? Why do you keep blaming me," Najib deplored.

In his blog post today, Mahathir claimed that he opposed a plan to oust DAP from the government and to form a coalition between Bersatu, Umno, and PAS.

"I refused to be PM of the Umno/PAS/Bersatu government because it meant I would be working with Umno and Najib, the people I had condemned and defeated in the 14th GE.

"I would actually be resuscitating Umno and make it a part of the government. I would be betraying the people who supported me in the election. I would also be reneging on my promises to the other parties in the Harapan coalition," Mahathir said in his blog. - Mkini