Zahid holds the key in tomorrow’s meeting with Agong, says Puad

 

Ahmad Zahid Hamidi is bringing the voice of Umno grassroots to the meeting at Istana Negara tomorrow, says Puad Zarkashi.

PETALING JAYA: Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could hold the key on the status of the emergency and the reconvening of parliament, an Umno supreme council member said today.

Puad Zarkashi said with the Umno president being the last to be granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah tomorrow, many are now hopeful on the outcome of the meeting.

“The people are confident this meeting would result in the end of the state of emergency and Parliament will sit again.

“The ‘pull the plug’ date on the emergency could occur anytime before the Aug 1 deadline,” he added.

Puad stressed that Zahid would bring with him the voice of Umno grassroots and that of the people but that any decision was still left to the King.

“Another key issue that will arise is that the Perikatan Nasional-led (PN) government has lost its majority.

“No one, not even Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin can claim that Umno still supports this government,” he said, adding that this follows the party’s decision to withdraw its support for the PN-led government during the Umno general assembly last March.

Puad also hoped that the King would consider the views of the political party leaders to who he had granted an audience, because “listening to the advice of the current government alone was not enough”.

Over the past two days, party leaders from PKR, DAP, Amanah, Pejuang, PAS, MCA and Warisan were granted an audience with the King to discuss the Emergency and measures to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

The King has also convened a special meeting with the Malay Rulers on Wednesday on the same issues. - FMT