Even if 17 Selangor PKR divisions are ‘against’ a contest for the top two national posts, they have not necessarily renounced support for state chief Azmin Ali’s candidacy for the deputy presidency.

Selangor Youth head Khairul Anuar Ahmad Zainuddin believes that the divisionss have only offered their support “in principle” to the ‘Selangor PKR Council for Leadership Consensus’ which surfaced last week.

This, he said, may have been prompted by a shared wish to prevent internal strife and to ensure that the party is prepared to face BN in the next general election.

Khairul Anua azlan r pointed out that most of the division leaders had not objected when Azmin (left) was nominated to replace Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as state PKR head in June.

“That shows that they support him. There were some dissenting voices, but not many,” he said.

Taman Medan assemblyperson Haniza Mohd Talha agreed, also saying that the nomination process would clarify the situation.

“We will only see who supports who when we receive the nominations. The council did not bring up any nominations, it only put forward its proposal and views,” she argued.

In any case, she said, the final decision will be made by the grassroots members as they hold the vote.

“The council is only made up of branch leaders. They cannot guarantee what the grassroots will do. It all rests in the hands of the ordinary members,” Haniza said.

syed husin ali 01 The NONE council wants incumbents Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail and Syed Husin Ali (right) to stay on, or make way to de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim (left) to take over the party with Wan Azizah as his deputy.

However, Syed Husin announced his decision yesterday to step down from the post to make way for fresh blood, while Anwar has declined nomination for any post.

‘Members well informed’

The founders of the ‘status quo’ council have again cautioned leaders to take heed of the proposal.

Its chair and Kelana Jaya division chief Syed Shahir Syed Mahamud said they should consider sentiments at the grassroots, as the members will determine the leadership line-up.

His deputy Abdul Kudus Omar said there is a possibility that the council can mobilise the 100,000 members in Selangor in doing their part.

“Our members are well informed. They have been given proper explanations by us and the results have been good,” he claimed.

They are expected to “vote wisely”, although he refused to say if this means that they will vote en bloc against anyone who contests the two posts.

The sudden appearanc NONE e of the council appeared to be a reaction to a series of statements by PKR assemblypersons , parliamentarians and senators backing Azmin’s candidacy.

While the elected and appointed representatives themselves number fewer than 40, the council claims to represent 17 of the 22 branches, or almost 80 percent of the members, in the state.

The council gained momentum yesterday when Khalid (right) joined the group. However, the presence of Kota Anggerik assemblyperson Yaakob Sapari at the event raised eyebrows, as he has expressed support for Azmin.