PERIKATAN Nasional (PN) is currently having second thoughts about positioning incumbent Datuk Seri Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor as its Kedah Menteri Besar candidate in the upcoming state polls and is said to be contemplating former MB Datuk Seri Mukhriz Mahathir as the coalition’s new poster boy.
UMNO communications director Datuk Lokman Noor Adam who made the revelation last night (June 13) said this came about following the recent Solusi untuk Sanusi (Solution for Sanusi) programme which was undertaken by the coalition.
“Sanusi is getting more worried as the days pass by as his position is under threat as not only Bersatu is no longer comfortable with him but also his own party, PAS,” Lokman shared on his latest live Facebook broadcast.
“Beyond that, speculations are also rife that even the Kedah palace can no longer tolerate his antics to the extent that it wants Sanusi to be defeated (in the state poll).”
Lokman who was reinstated as UMNO supreme council member on Feb 16 (he was expelled from the party on Feb 9, 2020 but re-joined UMNO on Sept 30, 2021) nevertheless expressed concern that this could only be a ploy by PN to divert attention away from the controversies surrounding Sanusi, the latest of which being Kedah’s claim of Penang’s ownership.
“My concern is that they (PN) initially put up Muhkriz’s photo as poster boy with the hope that they can put back Sanusi’s photo later but based on the information that I’ve, there is a big likelihood that if the Sanusi’s is reinstated as PN’s MB candidate (later), there could be a potential repeat of the Johor incident,” he recalled.
“It could be that the Kedah Sultan may request for two names of potential MB candidates. If this happens, it could well mean bye, bye Sanusi.”
For the record, in the run-up to the Johor state election on March last year, each of the Johor 26 UMNO division head had been instructed to provide two names for each state constituency to be considered as the party’s candidate.
On March 21, PN has rejected the application by Pejuang in which Mukhriz is the president to join the coalition despite the party’s justification that it wanted to prevent a split in Malay votes during the looming six state elections.
Earlier on Feb 19, Sanusi who is Kedah PN chairman and PAS election director has hoped that the Mukhriz-led Pejuang would be accepted to join either PAS or Bersatu. – June 14, 2023
Main pic credit: IsmaWeb
