(The Malaysian Insider) - Datuk Seri Najib Razak has refuted allegations that he had snubbed Pakatan Rakyat (PR) by deliberately excluding their representatives from a mentris besar and chief ministers meeting on Tuesday.

The prime minister told a press conference last night that the meeting was merely for the “co-ordination” between the federal and state governments and was not one enshrined under the Federal Constitution.

“Meetings that, according to the Constitution, involve all states, we will invite all mentris besar and chief ministers from the opposition... such as land committee, local government and meetings involving state finances... We respect the Constitution,” the Umno president said after chairing the party’s supreme council meeting.

“The meeting held two days ago was more of a co-ordination between federal and state governments and this is limited to Barisan Nasional (BN) MBs and CM only,” he added.

Najib said that this was a common practice from before, reiterating that he had not deliberately snubbed PR leaders.

“They hold many meetings on their own without inviting as well… we don’t complain,” he said, laughing.

Najib was responding to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s demand for an explanation yesterday on why PR leaders were excluded from Tuesday’s meeting.

The PKR leader had called the prime minister “unprofessional” for sidelining PR chief executives by excluding them from a meeting that discussed affairs of the rakyat.

On a separate matter, Najib also announced last night that Umno’s membership had grown to 3,355,878 as at December 31 last year, following the inclusion of 113,116 new members.

He also announced that Umno would be celebrating its 66th anniversary on May 11 at Stadium Merdeka.