Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin today continued to insinuate that there was unhappiness among PKR leaders over the appointment of Zaid Ibrahim as the party’s candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election.

khairy jamaluddin kj interview 190310 "There are those unhappy with Zaid being the candidate, among them (vice-president) Azmin Ali and (PKR Youth chief) Shamsul Iskandar," Khairy told a press conference at the Parliament lobby today.

According to Khairy, Azmin is worried about the wider role Zaid would play in the party should he be elected as an MP.

"A Reuters report said that Zaid is going to be the successor to Anwar. So if he gets elected, is he going to sit next to Anwar? Will Azmin have to move?

"I guess Azmin felt slighted and is saddened by this. That is probably why he seemed sad when he was in parliament yesterday,” alleged Khairy.

KJ can’t prove it

As for Shamsul, Khairy quoted a report in The Star which reported the PKR leader lamenting about disappointment from the party grassroots over Zaid’s candidacy.

NONE Of late, Khairy, along with MCA Youth chief Wee Ka Siong and Umno Youth exco member Abdul Rahman Dahlan, have been claiming on their respective Twitter pages, that Zaid’s candidacy had caused a rift in PKR.

Asked to prove his allegations, Khairy said his revelation was based on rumours received from Hulu Selangor locals.

"This is what we heard. We received reports of local dissatisfaction. We know people who are from the opposition,” he said.

Earlier, Azmin had denied Khairy’s allegations, offered this retort: “Don’t they have anything better to do with their time?”

Its just MIC sabre rattling

In a related development, Khairy brushed of MIC’s threats to punish MIC Youth deputy chief V Mugilan should the latter be made BN’s candidate for the Hulu Selangor by-election.

"That is just sabre rattling by the MIC, they also want to let their views be known,” said Khairy.

He then stressed that the candidate will be decided by the BN leadership collectively.

"We want a candidate that can win and with the best chance of winning. This must be a collective decision by the BN leadership,” he said.

Yesterday, Khairy, in his capacity as BN Youth chief, said the movement was keen to see a 'youthful candidate' in Hulu Selangor, thus leading to speculation that he was rooting for Mugilan.