Shockwaves reverberated when Selangor, which was considered a BN fortress, fell to the opposition in the 2008 general election.

Nine years later, the menteri besar at the time - Dr Mohd Khir Toyo - is still being blamed.

Speaking to Malaysiakini, the dentist-turned-politician admitted that he was a factor in BN's defeat in Selangor during the 12th general election.

"During the 2008 general election, okay, (it was) my fault.

"But in the 2013 elections, BN suffered a bigger defeat in Selangor. Ask Ku Nan (Umno and BN secretary-general Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor) why that happened.

"Was that my fault as well?" he asked.

Khir was asked to respond to Tengku Adnan, who said that Selangor was lost because of the former menteri besar, who upset the people with temple demolition issues and insulting local councils with his infamous "broom award".

However, the BN leader noted that despite Khir's departure, Selangor BN had failed to recapture the state in the last general election.

Tengku Adnan urged Selangor BN to determine the reasons for this in order to devise a new approach to win back the state.

In a Facebook posting later, Khir pointed out that BN did not only lose Selangor in 2008, but also Perak, Penang, Kedah and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur.

Khir claimed he was jailed to help with Selangor BN's image after the defeat but BN was still unable to capture Selangor in the 2013 general election.

He added that to date, BN was still unable to figure out why it lost by a bigger margin.

"The problem with BN and Umno is that it does not have the courage to make genuine evaluations and lives in denial about the people's perception," he said.

He said even though BN won in the Sungai Besar by-election, the majority was a reduced one.

"So where is our strength? We are only strong because the enemy is divided. If they unite tomorrow, what will our strategy be?" he said.

Khir was menteri besar of Selangor from 2000 to 2008.

The 2008 general election marked BN's worst ever electoral outing since independence, with the ruling coalition, for the first time, being denied a two-third majority in parliament and losing control of several states.

This eventually led to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi stepping down as prime minister to be replaced by Najib Abdul Razak.