Muhyiddin's 'franchise' move in Nenggiri a failure - Shahrir

Umno veteran Shahrir Samad has blasted Bersatu leader Muhyiddin Yassin over his party’s poor showing in the Nenggiri by-election.

In a post on Facebook, Shahrir (above) questioned Muhyiddin over his move to “delegate” Bersatu’s role in the campaign to other parties and suggested that Perikatan Nasional look elsewhere for a prime ministerial candidate.

“Muhyiddin as PN chairperson and Bersatu president has franchised Bersatu’s participation in Nenggiri to PAS and (election director) Annuar Musa.

“This is a remarkable move for any political party, especially one whose main leader is until today is still unhappy over the king’s decision not to appoint him as PM after the 15th general election.

“A PM in waiting! A government in waiting!” said Shahrir, a former six-term MP for Johor Bahru who held three ministerial portfolios.

Parachute candidate

He pointed to the unusual circumstances in Nenggiri - officially contested by Bersatu through a candidate Mohd Rizwadi Ismail - who was parachuted in from PAS just two days before nomination day, while candidates proposed by Bersatu were sidelined.

“The Bersatu candidate who jumped in from PAS was because no Bersatu figure can be trusted,” he said, referring to “frog politics”.

“They used the PAS symbol and not the PN symbol.

“Then they brought in the well-known (Umno veteran) Annuar Musa to the important role of campaign director. This proves once again that Bersatu in Kelantan is nothing.”

Reduced vote share

Based on official results, PN’s vote share in the Kelantan state seat shrunk from 53.3 percent in the state election last year to 38.7 percent.

The Nenggiri by-election was called after the Kelantan assembly speaker had declared the seat vacant, following the cessation of Mohd Azizi Abu Naim’s Bersatu membership.

BN’s Mohd Azmawi Fikri Abdul Ghani secured a morale-boosting win for his coalition, convincingly winning the by-election with a majority of 3,352 votes over his rival.

“So, is it true that TS Muhyiddin is ‘PM in waiting’ and PN is a ‘government in waiting’?

“Why is PAS playing hide and seek and taking the ‘franchise’ from Bersatu?

“Don’t be shy! Isn’t there Dr Sam (Terengganu MB Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar) as a PM candidate!” said Shahrir.

Umno supreme council member Mohd Puad Zarkashi also took aim at PN’s move to appoint Annuar to an important role in the campaign.

“Annuar is a liability, not an asset.

“He should make a ‘soft landing’ and abandon his ambition to become a candidate. Focus only on his Muafakat Nasional NGO to unite the community.

“Let this be a lesson to PAS not to use Umno frog to ‘humiliate’ Umno.

“The issue of DAP (working with Umno) is no longer effective. Nenggiri is the last field to play these DAP issues,” said Puad on Facebook.

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