Kelantan Umno liaison chief Mustapa Mohamed is ready to contest both the parliamentary and state seats in Jeli, or just the parliamentary seat, in the 13th general election if the leadership wants him to do so.

“I’m also ready to not contest at all if I’m not needed,” he told reporters after addressing Kampung Bukit Abal constituents in Pasir Puteh last night.

Mustapa once contested the Jeli parliamentary and Air Lanas state seats, in 1999, and won both.

“The important thing now is that I will continue to fight to ensure that Barisan Nasional (BN) is able to wrest Kelantan from PAS in the election,” he said.

Based on the latest information, he said, the BN stands a good chance of winning at least 23 out of 45 state seats in Kelantan.

“If all are willing to work hard with me and there are no sabotage, it’s not impossible for the BN to win up to 30 seats,” he said.

He added that the Pasir Puteh Umno has the potential to win all state seats in the area, namely Limbongan, Semerak, Gaal and Selising based on the number of PAS members and fence-sitter voters joining the BN.

He added that BN would have a mix of young faces and Umno veterans as well as those with religious education as candidates in the election.

- Bernama