Umno president hopeful Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah has said he would not consider expelling former party president Najib Abdul Razak unless the latter was found guilty of any "gross" wrongdoing.

“Why should I (sack Najib from Umno)?

“(Not) unless there is something grossly wrong somewhere,” he said when asked during a press conference at his residence in Kuala Lumpur today during which he announced his bid for the party presidency at the coming Umno polls.

Earlier today, DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang advised Umno to expel Najib in order to “exorcise” the latter’s two “toxic legacies” from the party - the 1MDB scandal and divisive politics.

Following Umno's defeat in last month's general elections, the former prime minister had resigned as president for both Umno and BN.

He is now subject to intense investigations over his involvement in state strategic investment firm 1MDB which he founded during his tenure as prime minister.

Meanwhile, when asked if he had Najib's support for his presidential bid, Razaleigh said he personally had not inquired. 

“Neither has he (Najib) told me of his support for me,” he added. 

Nominations for the upcoming Umno elections end tomorrow and the presidential elections will take place on Jun 30.

BN will go on

Should he win, Razaleigh, or Ku Li as he commonly known, said he would draw from lessons learned from his almost six-decade-long political career to reform the party.

He also saw no reason for an end to BN or for Umno to stop working with its remaining component parties like MCA and MIC.

“As far as I know, we are still members of BN and all of them are also component party members.

“The future (of BN) is that there should be a stronger relationship with parties that became our component parties as long as they are mutually beneficial to our struggle,” he said.

After May 9 election, BN has been mired in uncertainty after a total of nine component parties called it quits, prompting questions over its future.

The four remaining BN members are Umno, MCA, MIC and Gerakan.

Asked if Umno under his helm would consider an alliance with PAS, the Gua Musang MP said, “we will cross that bridge when we get to it”.