Tajuddin’s removal not a sign of Umno rift, says party veep

 

Umno vice-president Mahdzir Khalid denies there is any Umno crisis or rift because of Tajuddin Abdul Rahman’s removal from the Supreme Council. (Bernama pic)

PETALING JAYA: Umno vice-president Mahdzir Kahlid says the removal of Tajuddin Abdul Rahman from the party’s Supreme Council does not indicate there is a rift in the party.

He said Umno does not face such a problem. He also denied there existed various factions in the party.

“There is no crisis (in Umno). If you want a crisis, you need factions, but there is none in Umno,” he said in a statement which came two days after Ketereh Umno division chief Annuar Musa said the Tajuddin case would spark a crisis in the party.

Annuar also predicted that other leaders would be removed. He said several others had been branded as political enemies of the party leadership.

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Tajuddin had been appointed to the Supreme Council by party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, and was among 13 presidential appointees.

His removal from the party’s leadership council was viewed by political observers as a sign of a civil war in the party between a pro-Zahid faction and that aligned to vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob, who is prime minister.

Tajuddin, who is Pasir Salak MP, was seen as friendly to Ismail’s faction. In May, he confirmed that he had been appointed as Malaysia’s ambassador to Indonesia and is expected to take up his post soon. - FMT