Two Umno members and ex-ministers under Najib Razak are pouring scorn on party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for giving the ex-PM a political lifeline.
The two ex-top party leaders are saying the party’s supreme council did not approve of Najib’s return to active and to party politics.
Najib is facing multiple charges of money laundering, abuse of power and cheating by trust in local courts and is in the docks in a trial involving a company linked to the !MDB scandal.
The two men says Zahid has extended the political lifeline of Najib but this is not good for the party. Najib was also appointed as the Barisan Nasional’s advisory council’s chair.
Khairy, the son in law of ex-PM Abdullah Ahmad Badawi says it would be “insane” to expect BN and Umno achieving different results with Najib in an influential position.
Nazri says Najib had his chance with two elections and did not get better for Barisan, but it got worse adding that the track record speaks for itself.
He called on the ex-PM to step aside.
But Najib returned fire, attacking Nazri saying the latter hurt the Malaysian Chinese Association — a Barisan component party —and rejected cooperation with the Islamists PAS.
The bickering has taken another turn with Najib saying Nazri is not willing to criticise the ruling coalition the Pakatan Harapan consistently but is willing to hurt the component parties in the Barisan.
The two party members said they will not leave Umno but challenged Najib and party leader Zahid Hamidi to sack them.
They reminded Najib of the last time he sacked party members who are today Ministers or Menteri Besar’s under the Pakatan Harapan government.
Nazri says he feels Najib is harbouring intentions of becoming prime minister again, using Umno’s current good relations with PAS as stepping stone.
“Enough lah, Step aside for younger people,” Nazri is quoted as saying.