Speculation rife about Khalid Ibrahim joining PAS

SHAH ALAM: Speculation is rife that former Selangor mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim will be joining PAS soon along with four other PKR assemblymen.

It is believed the four consists of two former exco members, a sitting exco member and an assemblyman who is a close friend of Khalid.

They have also allegedly conveyed their intent to Selangor Ruler Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah.

However, palace sources dismissed rumours that Khalid met palace officials to seek an audience with the Sultan.

"His Royal Highness is in London and only back on Friday," they said.

Arrangements are apparently being made amidst speculation of a split between PAS and PKR in Selangor.

The marriage of convenience between the two parties is currently hanging by a thread, which is expected to break when the PAS Syura Council convenes soon.

In the event PKR and PAS breaks up, the state government will have a thin majority of 14 DAP seats, two Amanah seats and 13 PKR seats.

The other side will consist of 13 PAS seats, 12 Barisan Nasional seats and two independents, including Khalid.

The other independent is Telok Datok assemblyman Loh Chee Heng, who was booted out of DAP last year for allegedly misusing state funds.

This will mean that Pakatan Harapan would only have a majority of two seats and the state administration will immediately change hands if the four jump ship.

A PKR insider dismissed the talk and said the speculation was fabricated to create chaos within PKR.

"Our party members are loyal to PKR and its aspirations. They would never even think of doing something like this," said the PKR leader.

He added one of the four who were accused of planning to jump ship had posted in a private WhatsApp group that he would never do such a thing.

"The other three are diehard supporters of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and the Reformasi agenda," he said.

When contacted, one of Khalid's aides said the Port Klang assemblyman has no interest in joining PAS or helping to topple the state government.

"If he wanted to join PAS, he would have done it when left PKR and was removed as mentri besar," said the aide.