A peeved PKR vice-president Azmin Ali today lashed out at his critics for constantly attacking him and accusing him of "running a cartel" in the run-up to the party elections.

"All the party problems are my fault, right? I'm not a member of the election committee. You have to refer to them," said Azmin when met at the Parliament lobby today.

NONE Azmin ( left ) was responding to the latest barrage of criticism, this time by party supreme council member N Gobalakrishnan, who accused him of colluding with top party leaders to meddle with the elections.

"How do I manipulate the votes? It is a direct election... every member has one vote so they have to turn up and cast their votes. I can't manipulate the votes.

"The committee representatives are there in every division and they will report to the headquarters. So I'm not in a position to manipulate the votes. (The committee) has to clarify (the allegations)," he said.

Among others, Gobalakrishnan had blamed irregularities found in several divisional elections in recent weeks on Azmin in collusion with the election committee.

He also claimed that Azmin made an alleged attempt to stifle Nurul Izzah Anwar's chances of qualifying for the deputy presidency race.

Gobalakrishnan further charged that Azmin frequently hid behind Anwar to run the party like "his own company".

If I'm so powerful, why bother contesting?

Azmin rubbished Gobalakrishnan's allegations, stressing that he would not have to contest for any posts if he was as powerful as his detractors claim.

NONE "If I can control the party, or that I'm the de facto leader, why should I contest? I can be just an ordinary member but in control of everything. This (accusation) is not fair!" he said.

Azmin also brushed aside Gobalakrishnan's ( right ) charge that his recent trip to Jakarta along with a group of PKR leaders was proof of the "cartel".

On Gobalakrishnan's claim that there was no such thing as a Oct 10 deadline for divisions to submit nominations for the central leadership, Azmin said that he had received a circular from the party headquarters informing this.

"As a responsible division chief, you have to make sure that (nomination forms) must be submitted before the deadline. It is a simple procedure... Why is that wrong?... Why am I being blamed for this?" he said

As the Padang Serai division chief, Gobalakrishnan claims that he did not receive the circular from the secretary-general, dated July 19.

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