No Umno plot to oust Muhyiddin, says Shahrir
Veteran backbench MP stands up for deputy president’s loyalty to party
(Free Malaysia Today) – Veteran backbench MP Shahrir Samad has dismissed talk of a conspiracy to oust Umno deputy president Muhyiddin Yassin and vice-president Shafie Apdal at the coming Supreme Council meeting.
“I do not see any plot,” said Shahrir, quoted by Star Online in response to a blog posting by the son of former Kedah menteri besar Sanusi Junid.
In the blog article on Friday, Akramsyah Sanusi had speculated that the Supreme Council, at a meeting scheduled for Tuesday, would oust Muhyiddin and Shafie, who have both been critical of party leader Najib Razak. The two men were dismissed from the Cabinet in late July.
Shahrir, who is MP for Johor Baru and chairman of the Barisan Nasional Backbenchers Club, said “certain people” liked to “pre-empt things without making efforts to verify whatever information they hear”.
Speculation about Muhyiddin’s future has heightened after he was seen as having aligned himself with former premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who has been at the forefront of a year-long campaign to remove Najib from office as party leader and prime minister.
