Amanah info chief: Zahid pledged support of 30 Umno MPs for Anwar

 

Amanah communications director Khalid Samad claimed that Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi pledged the support of 30 Umno MPs for PKR president Anwar Ibrahim.

Khalid (above) said that Zahid had communicated as such in a letter which was handed to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong recently.

"I am made to understand, other than letters from (Amanah president) Mohamad Sabu, (DAP secretary-general) Lim Guan Eng, Anwar also presented a letter by Zahid, which stated that 30 MPs from Umno, if I'm not mistaken, supported Anwar," said Khalid in an interview with Jom Channel last night.

This claim by the Shah Alam MP cannot be independently verified at the time of writing. Malaysiakini has reached out to both Zahid and Anwar's offices for comments.

Anwar was granted an audience by the Agong on Tuesday in which the former claimed he had provided evidence that he commanded the support of more than 120 MPs.

However, Istana Negara had since clarified that Anwar never provided a list of the MPs to back his claim.

So far, Anwar has kept mum on the composition of his numbers but stressed that his team was "inclusive".

According to Khalid, Zahid's letter contained a list of Umno MPs who backed Anwar.

Khalid said he was aware that there was a lot of disappointment since Anwar did not announce the forming of a new government following his audience with the Agong.

"What should have been done to make matters easier was for Muhyiddin Yassin to resign (as prime minister) after he knew he no longer commanded the majority, just as what (former premier) Dr Mahathir Mohamad had done before him," he added.

Khalid stressed that Anwar had never claimed he had furnished statutory declarations (SDs) from individual MPs, although some MPs have provided such documents.

Khalid had accompanied Anwar at the latter's press conference on Tuesday.

He predicted that what would likely follow was that the Agong would need to investigate the letters from the party heads to establish if the contents are true.

This process has been postponed as the federal capital and Selangor has been placed under stay-at-home orders as part of the conditional movement control order to curb the spread of Covid-19. - Mkini