How credible is Zahid's take on Batu Pahat, asks Puad

GE14 | Mohd Puad Zarkashi has disputed caretaker deputy prime minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi's remark that he was omitted from the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat because the area suffered from an erosion of support for BN.

In a Facebook post tonight, the Special Affairs Department (Jasa) director-general also questioned Zahid's methodology to arrive at such a conclusion.

"I am extremely saddened by the comment from (caretaker) deputy prime minister that the Batu Pahat parliamentary seat is 'critical', in terms of support for BN.

"This denies the success of the Batu Pahat Umno in increasing the number of new members, and it being among the divisions which has increased the number of voters in Johor.

"Therefore, I would like to question the credibility of the methodology used by him (Zahid)," said the Batu Pahat Umno chief.

Zahid, who is also BN deputy chairperson, said yesterday that Puad's omission was made after a detailed study of the political landscape of the area, which showed that a candidate with better potential to seize the seat from PKR should be deployed instead.

To this, Puad asked whether fielding a candidate with "personal” and “moral" issues would ensure BN's win in the constituency.

"Would fielding a candidate who had not helped the division in party matters, for five consecutive years, and has not attended the division's annual delegates meeting, for five consecutive years, among others, do the trick?

"How great is his (Zahid's) assessment?" he asked in the post.

"This is not about sulking (merajuk). This is a question of why something that can set a bad precedent in the future is allowed to happen.

"Don't let choosing the candidacy in the general election set the agenda for preparations of party polls. The consequences will be dire," he warned.

Puad's slamming of Zahid comes ahead of the latter's scheduled visit to the constituency tomorrow.

BN has formally announced that Batu Pahat Wanita chief Haliza Abdullah will be contesting the parliamentary seat.

In the last general election, Puad suffered a shock defeat when he lost the seat to PKR's Mohd Idris Jusi by 1,732 votes. - Mkini