Mukhriz Mahathir will remain as Kedah menteri besar for now but Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak has indicated that his removal is imminent.

He also denied that the Kedah palace had rejected the proposal to replace the son of former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, whose grip on power in his father’s home state is on tenterhooks.

Responding to a question on this, Najib said: "There was no rejection; the process went well."

He added that a final announcement would be made later.

The Umno president was speaking to reporters after chairing the party supreme council meeting at the Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon.

Najib said during the meeting, the supreme council members were informed of the names submitted to the regency council.

This morning, the prime minister met the regency council at the Istana Darul Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

Berita Harian, which quoted a source, said the names submitted were Guar Chempedak assemblyperson Dr Ku Abd Rahman Ku Ismail, Ayer Hangat assemblyperson Mohd Rawi Abdul Hamid, and Bayu assemblyperson Azmi Che Husin.

Mukhriz had earlier attended the meeting but was told to leave an hour later.

Umno secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said the Kedah menteri besar was not invited to the meeting.

The rebellion against Mukhriz began last week when his deputy, Kedah Umno chief Ahmad Bashah Mohd Hanipah, staged a press conference rejecting the sitting menteri besar's leadership.

Among the alleged reasons why Mukhriz's leadership was in question was because he flew back to Kuala Lumpur too often instead of managing the state.