Umno vice President Shafie Apdal wants action to be taken against Umno leaders accused of toppling the government, if laws were contravened.

Responding to the claim made yesterday by fellow vice president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also deputy prime minister, Shafie, who was recently dropped from the cabinet, agreed that the authorities should look into the matter.

"If it is proven that any party member is involved in this and if laws were broken, then action must be taken. In the democratic system, rules must to be adhered," he told the press in Larapan Island, Semporna today, after visiting the island and checking its solar panel generator.

Yesterday, citing "trusted sources", Zahid said there was an attempt to obtain statutory declarations (SD) of opposition MPs to claim that they have the voice of the majority.

"As the home minister, it has come to my knowledge that there are efforts to topple the current government... I can smell it," he said in his speech before officiating the Ampang Umno annual general meeting yesterday.

"There is an effort by certain leaders to obtain the SDs of MPs and an effort to get the support of BN MPs to topple the government using the back door.

"I obtained this information from very trusted sources. The strange thing is, this effort is being spearheaded by one Umno-BN leader," he said.

Umno has been rocked by its worst infighting in decades since the growing 1MDB scandal led to the ousting of Zahid's predecessor Muhyiddin Yassin and Shafie from the cabinet.

Former Umno president and premier Dr Mahathir Mohammad is also in the front line and front pages of news in attacking Umno, adding pressure on the president and Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.