Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has been quietly consolidating support from the party's supreme council to prepare for Umno's eventual withdrawal of support for the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government, several sources told Malaysiakini.

Party insiders said that Zahid had succeeded in convincing the clear majority of the Umno's 56 supreme council members - the party's executive body - that a divorce from the ruling coalition was necessary if their ultimatum to the PN government was ignored.

Zahid, according to insiders, had even...