End of the day Azmin will become MB, say his supporters
(The Star) – Confidence is high among PKR deputy president Azmin Ali’s supporters that he will ultimately be appointed as the new Selangor mentri besar.
This is in spite of all three Pakatan Rakyat partners agreeing to only propose PKR president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail’s name to the Selangor palace as the replacement for incumbent Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.
“We know that the palace will reject Dr Wan Azizah,” said a PKR division leader aligned to Azmin.
“When that happens, Pakatan has no choice but to recommend another name and we are confident that it will be Azmin.”
The party leadership, he said, was aware of the consequences should Azmin not be proposed in the event of Dr Wan Azizah’s name being rejected by the Selangor Sultan.
“They know that two-thirds of PKR wants Azmin as the mentri besar,” said the leader, who declined to be named.
“The party will disintegrate if his name is not submitted at that point of time.”
National Council of Professors political cluster head Prof Datuk Dr Mohamed Mustafa Ishak Khalid said that Azmin had a strong following within his party.
“He enjoys overwhelming support. The fact that he beat Khalid in the race for the deputy president’s post speaks for itself,” he said.
In contrast to Azmin, he said Dr Wan Azizah was only the PKR president due to her husband, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, around whom the party revolved.
A senior PKR state assemblyman said the party decided not to submit Azmin’s name even after the Sultan had declined to meet Dr Wan Azizah because they did not want to embarrass her.
“It is to save face, especially after the announcement that 30 assemblymen have signed statutory declarations supporting her,” he said, adding that Azmin’s faction believed that the Sultan would now grant her an audience but would ask for more names to be submitted.
“It is then that we will push for Azmin’s name,” said the division leader, adding that PAS now fully supported Dr Wan Azizah – along with DAP – because they understood the need to not humiliate the PKR president.
“When her name is rejected, both PAS and DAP will push Azmin’s name forward,” he said, claiming that it was only PKR, which had yet to make a final decision about submitting the deputy president’s name.
Many PKR members, he claimed, also believed that Anwar was worried about Azmin becoming his “own man” and “not listening to him” should he become the mentri besar.
“Azmin is a matured and capable politician,” he said.
“He will give Anwar the due respect but, of course, he cannot be consulting him on every decision he has to make,” he added.
USM political scientist Assoc Prof Dr Sivamurugan Pandian said PKR’s reputation would be adversely affected if Dr Wan Azizah was not accepted by the Selangor palace.
“After all, she is the party president,” he said.
