What was different about the meeting Adenan Satem had with his boss, Abdul Taib Mahmud, in Kuching this morning was that "raised voices" were heard emerging from the room.

A source told malaysiakini he was informed by a close associate of Adenan the meeting took on 'a rather personal note' and that the two raised their voices at times.

What was discussed was not immediately known but it is clear that Adenan, who had resigned from his federal ministerial post this week, met with the chief minister alone.

Adenan emerged from the meeting and told the waiting press corps the discussion was 'confidential' and that he had no statement to make.

No other party leader was seen emerging from the meeting, widely believed to be a four-eye affair.

This surprised many reporters as they had generally thought that if everything had been planned and agreed upon it was a matter of deciding on when.

When in this case means the date for the state polls and when Adenan is to take over from Taib.

Adenan, 62, who resigned as Natural Resources and Environment Minister after a two-year stint in Kuala Lumpur, flew back to Kuching at 10 this morning and went straight to see Taib whom he had earlier described as "my leader and mentor."

Adenan to rejoin state cabinet?

Adenan has told former cabinet colleagues that his stint in Kuala Lumpur was a short one and that he would returning to state politics eventually and take over from Taib as chief minister.

Sources said Adenan might have acted alone when he decided to step down from his federal post. Since his posting to Kuala Lumpur, he had spent a lot of time in Sarawak, attending to party matters and official functions either on his own or on behalf of the chief minister.

Talk in town is that with his resignation from the federal cabinet, he will rejoin the state cabinet and may even act as chief minister in the event Taib decides to go on long leave for medical reasons and let his PBB senior vice-president take charge of the coming state election.

But one PBB leader who spoke on condition of anonymity said he could not see how this could happen when there are still two deputy presidents in PBB - Deputy Chief Minister Alfred Jabu (Pesaka wing) and state Housing Minister Abang Johari Tun Openg (Bumiputera wing).

State government officials are now busy making preparations for the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers meeting in Kuching later this week. Both Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and his deputy, Najib Abdul Razak, will be in Sarawak for the meeting.