The newly announced departure of vice-president Darrell Leiking from Sabah PKR will not paralyse the political party in the East Malaysian state, insists a senior PKR leader.

On the contrary, fellow vice-president Tian Chua said that while the Penampang parliamentarian will no longer be listed as a party member, he will still work with opposition pact Pakatan Harapan, albeit on a new political platform.

"I don't think so (PKR Sabah will be paralysed). I think PKR in Sabah will continue to grow. We are planning to expand our alliance further.

"With recent developments in Sabah, they need a local voice and he (Darrell) wants to focus on state politics compared to national politics.

"But he will still be with a party that will be friendly to us (Harapan)," he said when met by reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

Darrell left PKR to join hands with ex-Umno vice president Shafie Apdal, who is in the process of taking over a local party to form an anti-BN platform in the East Malaysian state.

Darrell was seen together with Shafie at the Registrar of Society's office in Putrajaya earlier today, prior to his announcement.

There were also claims that PKR's Moyog assemblyperson Terence Siambunand and Sabah party chief Laim Ukin will soon follow in Darrell's footsteps. However, Tian denied this.

Instead of cannibalising each other, the Batu parliamentarian said that PKR and Shafie have a long term formula in place to ensure that the state BN will fall.

"I think we (PKR) and Shafie will look at several formulas. I think the formula to defeat the BN in Sabah and Sarawak, is to have a local element in play. So we always welcome any cooperation with home-grown parties. Not only with Shafie's, but with others too," he said.