KUALA LUMPUR – Perikatan Nasional’s “poster boy” for Selangor, Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali, has denied accusations that he is running away from the Bukit Antarabangsa seat where he has been the incumbent from 2008 till now.
Instead, the former Selangor menteri besar and top PKR leader who is contesting the Hulu Kelang seat in the August 12 state election, said it was ex-boss, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim, who “runs away” from seat to seat.
“Hulu Kelang is my political base. I was first given voters’ mandate here in 1999, and when I also became Gombak MP, Hulu Kelang is still in the Gombak (federal) constituency. So there's no issue of me running away from my political base.
“The one who ran is (the one who went from) Permatang Pauh, to Port Dickson, to Tambun,” he said in reference to Anwar, who is currently Tambun MP.
Azmin’s first state seat in 1999 was Hulu Kelang before he became the Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman in 2008, which he has defended until now.
In last November’s general election, Azmin was defeated in the Gombak parliamentary seat by Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari, who became menteri besar and is defending the Sg Tua seat in this state election.
Azmin said he would not let his loss in Gombak affect his campaign for Hulu Kelang, stressing that the seat was his “kampung’.
The former PKR deputy president, who defected to Bersatu in the Sheraton Move in 2020, will face a straight fight against deputy Wanita PKR head Juwairiya Zulkifli in Hulu Kelang. – The Vibes, July 29, 2023
