Deputy Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has urged his ruling party to stop speculating on the possible political comeback of Anwar Ibrahim and remain focused on its annual congress next week, a report said today.

"We don't want the general assembly to be sidetracked by one issue over one individual," he told the New Straits Times .

"Abdullah has stated that there was no deal with Anwar ... they must give their full trust that this is the truth," he said.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his senior cabinet members have made it clear that there is no room for Anwar in the only party that would give him any real chance of reviving his ambitions to lead the country.

Anwar was heir-apparent to then-premier Mahathir Mohamad before being sacked in September 1998 and later sentenced to a total of 15 years in jail on charges which he says were trumped up to prevent him challenging Mahathir for the premiership.

The charismatic and popular politician was freed from prison earlier this month when the Federal Court overturned his separate conviction and nine-year sentence for sodomy.

Competition from Anwar

At the Umno party congress, which starts next week, elections will be held for the top positions in an organisation which has headed the country's ruling coalition since independence from Britain in 1957.

In Umno's traditional hierarchy, the president of the party is invariably the prime minister. His deputy in the party and in government - the post Anwar held until being sacked - is seen as the heir-apparent.

Abdullah and his deputy Najib will be unopposed at the congress, but seven party stalwarts are fighting for three vice-president posts. None of them - including Najib - having settled in after the long Mahathir years, would like to face competition from Anwar.

Anwar will be eligible to stand for parliament in the next elections, due in 2009, unless they are called early.

But with the ruling coalition holding 90 percent of the seats in parliament, his chances of regaining his position as a prime ministerial contender outside the Umno fold appear bleak.