PETALING JAYA: Umno Supreme Council member Puad Zarkashi has challenged Khairy Jamaluddin to back his claim of loyalty to Umno by resigning from the Cabinet and retracting his support for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.
In a statement, he said Khairy’s claim of having “trust issues” in Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was just an excuse to stay on as minister and to support the Perikatan Nasional government. Khairy is the minister for science and technology and also responsible for the immunisation programme.
Pointing out that Khairy used to be the Umno Youth leader, Puad said Khairy would be well aware that party decisions were not made by the president alone but by the entire Supreme Council.
“If you really are loyal to the party, please make an open confession that you will retract support for the prime minister and resign as minister. This was the decision made by the party by consensus through the Supreme Council and annual general assembly. It was not the president’s decision alone,” he said.
Puad said that Khairy, by disobeying the Supreme Council’s decision, had made Zahid a scapegoat and a victim. He urged Khairy to fall in line with the party’s stand.
Yesterday, Khairy had said that his trust in the Umno president had been eroded by Zahid’s stand on a letter and an audio recording purportedly expressing support for opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.
He maintained that he remained loyal to Umno and said he would make his stand on Muhyiddin and the PN government when the Dewan Rakyat holds its next meeting in September.
Khairy, who is the MP for Rembau, is among a number of Barisan Nasional MPs who, along with Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob have chosen to continue supporting Muhyiddin and his government. Ismail is deputy prime minister in the PN government. - FMT
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