KUALA LUMPUR: An Umno leader has rejected rumours that the party is going after the deputy prime minister’s post.
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The party’s youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki in a Facebook post on Wednesday dismissed the talk as fake news, urging people not to be fooled by it.
He said that the Umno supreme council retained its position on the matter where it had decided against accepting the post. This, he said meant lobbying for it was also not on their agenda.
“Isn’t it better to lobby for the prime minister’s post to offer more aid to the rakyat such as bank moratoriums without interests accrued over the period, i-Citra, speed up and add more cash aids such as BPR, BPN, BKC. And shutting down non-essential factories if this was an actual total lockdown instead of just keeping the rakyat at home.
“The rakyat is desperate for aid not post,” he said in the posting which was in response to rumours that Umno was once again gunning for the deputy prime minister’s post as a trade-off for remaining in the Perikatan Nasional government.
Speculation is rife that the Umno supreme council would decide on the matter soon as it had given Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin an ultimatum to reconvene parliament or see Umno quit the coalition.
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The deadline for the ultimatum expired on Monday but Putrajaya had also announced that Parliament would convene on July 26 on the same day.
Umno leaders held two meetings last Saturday, and on Monday night, the first in a mansion on Jalan Bellamy and the second at Wisma Pewira.
A portal quoting sources claimed an invitation for Monday’s meeting was extended to Umno president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.
However, it is yet to be seen if Umno leaders will push for an exit from the current administration or where the MPs’ loyalty lies as they are divided into several camps that rotate around key figures in the party.
Earlier attempts at exiting PN and forming alliances with other parties had also been foiled.-NST