Selangor MB saga: Azmin set to replace Khalid?
(Malay Mail Online) – PKR deputy president is on the cusp of ousting nemesis Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor mentri besar, according to a report that the PKR deputy president has now won the backing of allies DAP and PAS.
Citing an anonymous source, the Astro Awani news portal reported that the decision was made following a closed-door tripartite meeting over the weekend and is now awaiting the endorsement of Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
Azmin is believed to have been chosen over PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah as PAS reportedly has issues with her gender.
“PAS did not agree to a woman MB, PAS wanted Azmin… DAP then agreed to Azmin, but will defer the decision to Anwar,” Astro Awani quoted the unnamed source as saying.
“The appointment will be made after Hari Raya, as previously announced,” the person said after saying that a Pakatan Rakyat presidential council meeting will be convened before then.
Yesterday, PAS secretary-general Datuk Mustafa Ali said deliberations would be made before the end of Ramadan.
“Maybe before Raya there will be another meeting and this subject may be discussed.
The presidential does not only talk about Khalid, you know,” the PAS man told a news conference at the PR secretariat office here.
Should the move go through, it will mark an end to the long-drawn intrigue involving bitter rivals Azmin and Khalid stemming from the former’s ambition to occupy the latter’s post.
The Port Klang assemblyman’s position as mentri besar has remained contentious since his own party, PKR, initiated the so-called “Kajang Move” to oust him from the position in March.
The move was ostensibly engineered to remove Khalid and to replace him with PKR’s de facto leader Anwar, who had intended to contest the Kajang state seat which was vacated in February.
But the “Kajang move” fell through after the appellate court overturned his sodomy acquittal and sentenced him to five years in jail, days before the by-election’s nomination. Anwar has filed for an appeal against this decision.
Although Anwar’s disqualification had then appeared to put to rest plans to remove Khalid, recent controversies involving the Selangor administration have prompted new agitations for his removal.
Among others, these include the still-unresolved row over the seizure of bibles in the state and Khalid’s perceived partiality towards the developers of the proposed Kinrara-Damansara Expressway that is facing mounting resistance from state residents.
A major barrier to Khalid’s removal was the absence of a clear candidate to replace him, with Azizah previously being touted as the most likely candidate.
