Supporters of party leaders who were dropped in a cabinet reshuffle recently, have been urged not to be emotional and accept the decision gracefully, said Umno Youth Information chief, Jamawi Jaafar.

He said supporters should emulate the attitude of their leaders who accepted the decision of the cabinet reshuffle with an open heart, and vowed to continue to fight for the interests of the party.

"We do not want the top leadership accepting the decision, but their supporters instead rejecting and pitting one against another, which will cause a split. I think we will slowly solve this issue amicably," he said after opening the Alor Setar Umno Youth delegates meeting today.

In the Cabinet reshuffle on Tuesday, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak dropped Muhyiddin Yassin as deputy prime minister and education minister, and appointed Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as the new deputy prime minister, while retaining his post as the Home Minister.

The prime minister also appointed seven new faces as ministers in his cabinet line-up while dropping four ministers, and a deputy minister from office.

According to Jamawi, what was needed for the time being was a clarification at the grassroots level about the issue, to ensure that no attempt was made by irresponsible parties to divide the party.

"We want everyone to practice mature politics, not emotional politics," he said.    

- Bernama