PKR secretary general Salehuddin Hashim denied this evening that he had resigned from his post amidst swirling rumours that he had sent a strongly-worded letter of resignation to party supremo Anwar Ibrahim.

salehuddin hashim interview 110408 thinking In remarks made to Malaysiakini , Salehuddin ( left ) blithely attributed the rumours to his penchant for telling his supporters in the party that “...if I find my position untenable, I will quit.”

“I’m always telling them that,” chuckled Salehuddin on the phone to Malaysiakini , adding,

“That’s probably why those rumours of me quitting are now flying around.”

“I’ve not quit,” he reiterated.

Sources, however, say that Salehuddin had already sent in his letter of resignation today and that it contained criticisms against the leadership.

“I don’t know what his strategy is,” commented a source who claims to know of the existence of the ‘quit’ letter.

At loggerheads with PKR bigwigs

A man of vaunted candor, Salehuddin would likely take umbrage at a suggestion that any decision to dispatch a resignation letter could be part of a strategic manoeuvre rather than outright avowal of intent.

NONE “I’ll call you when I have quit,” was all Salehuddin was prepared to say when pressed on the veracity of the ‘quit letter’ sources say he sent Anwar ( left) .

Salehuddin, who from the outset has made it clear that he is not interested in a career in politics, is known to be at loggerheads with PKR bigwigs, owing mainly to his impatience with unnecessary politicking.

He has clashed with territorial barons in the party who were unduly preoccupied with their own fiefdoms and pursuing their own aggrandizements while prosecuting their own feuds.

A lawyer by training but a corporate trouble shooter by experience, Salehuddin has previously spoken to Anwar about wanting to quit his secretary general’s post for a role in the private sector.