Selangor Menteri Besar Mohd Khir Toyo was today appointed as the state's Umno liaison committee chief with immediate effect, replacing Muhammad Muhammad Taib who relinquished the post voluntarily.

However, Muhammad who is also Umno vice president, agreed to assume the post of deputy state Umno chief.

The new appointment was announced by Prime Minister and Umno President Dr Mahathir after chairing the party's supreme council meeting at the Umno headquarters in Kuala Lumpur.

Mahathir said Muhammad informed the supreme council of his decision today and added that the council had no objections.

Later, Muhammad told reporters that he had informed the Selangor Umno liaison committee of his intention last Monday.

"In fact, I had this in mind since last year and told Mohd Khir then that I would hand over the post to him in January this year," he said.

The move, he said, is to ensure that Selangor Umno is headed by the Menteri Besar as practised by other states.

Muhamad was appointed the state committee liaison chief two years ago to replace the then Mentri Besar Abu Hassan Omar who resigned.

Meetings postponed

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and deputy Umno president Abdullah Ahmad Badawi told a press conference the supreme council has approved the application by 42 Umno branches and 15 divisions to postpone their annual meeting as most of the members are performing the Haj in Mecca.

The branch meeting was scheduled to be held from Feb 16 to March 19, while the divisional meeting was scheduled from March 17 to April 30.

"Branches that want to postpone their meetings should first get approval from their respective divisions, which will forward the application to the supreme council for approval.

"In the case of divisions, they must get approval from the state liaison committee, which will similarly forward them to the Supreme Council," said Abdullah.

In an unrelated matter, Mahathir said the supreme council wishes to congratulate Perlis Menteri Besar Shahidan Kassim and all parties involved in the Indera Kayangan by-election.

Last Saturday's by-election saw Barisan Nasional candidate Oui Ah Lan winning the state seat with a majority of 2,592 votes over Keadilan's Khoo Yang Chong.

The by-election was called following the death of incumbent Khor Liang Tee who was also Perlis MCA chief.