Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi
KUALA TERENGGANU: Incumbent Datuk Che Abdullah Mat Nawi was dropped as the Perikatan Nasional candidate for Tumpat due to internal “sabotage”, says former PAS syura council secretary Datuk Dr Mohd Khairuddin Aman Razali.
He said Che Abdullah, popularly known as Che Lah, had already been vetted by the party’s syura council as a candidate in GE15.
He claimed Che Lah was dropped owing to unrest within PAS ranks in the constituency.
“I was made to understand that Che Lah passed the vetting process with no issues. There are people in Tumpat PAS who have issues with him ... there were attempts to topple him last year, but he still won in the party polls,” he said.
On Che Lah’s decision to contest on a Barisan Nasional ticket, Mohd Khairuddin said this was for unity as the goal was to win the most parliamentary seats and not go against PAS.
On Thursday, it was reported that Che Lah would stand in Tumpat as a Barisan candidate after being dropped by PAS, which had replaced him with Kelantan exco member Datuk Mumtaz Md Nawi.
Kelantan Mentri Besar and state Perikatan chairman Datuk Ahmad Yakob said on Wednesday that Che Lah was dropped because he did not pass the syura council’s vetting process.
Mohd Khairuddin, who will be contesting in Kuala Nerus again but this time under Barisan, said he aimed to win over fence-sitters.
He said he had been successful in winning their hearts in the last general election when he successfully defended the seat as a PAS candidate.
Declining to comment on his rival for the seat, Perikatan’s Datuk Dr Alias Razak, Mohd Khairuddin said he hoped that either party would deny Pakatan Harapan a win.
“I leave it to PAS to help me ensure that Pakatan will not form the Federal Government. For this, Barisan needs to win,” he said.
Mohd Khairuddin, a two-term MP, defeated Umno and Amanah candidates by 8,447 votes in GE14.
He left PAS in March and has been sitting as an Independent MP in the Dewan Rakyat.
