Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak's (PBDS) triennial delegates conference this year may see a keen contest for the No 2 post should the party fail to reach a consensus.

The stakes are high and two aspirants party information chief and state social development and urbanisation minister Dr James Jemut Masing and party treasurer and member of parliament for Julau Joseph Salang Gandum (photo) have expressed their intention to vie for the post.

If the contest takes place, it will be Masing's second attempt for the post. In the last party elections, he had failed to unseat incumbent Daniel Tajem former deputy chief minister and former envoy to New Zealand

There is a general consensus within the party that Tajem should become president when federal Energy, Telecommunications and Multimedia Minister Leo Moggie steps down at the conference which is tentatively scheduled for August.

Tajem is one of the founding leaders of PBDS which was a splinter group from the newly de-registered Sarawak National Party (Snap).

However, there appears to be no clear replacement for the deputy president post if Tajem moves up.

Masing, who is close to Sarawak Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud, was the first to publicly declare his intention to contest for the post followed by Salang a week later.

In an interview with a local English daily Sarawak Tribune , Salang a Telekom Malaysia director and Moggie ally said he would be interested in the post "if that is what party members want."