Grassroots unhappy with PKR's indecision over PAS

PETALING JAYA: The simmering internal conflicts in PKR have come to a boil, as evidenced by Rembau division chief Yusuf Tapa's call on Aug 28 for an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to decide whether the party should continue its overtures towards PAS.
Party vice-president Rafizi Ramli had a day earlier suggested that a special congress for the same purpose.
These, the resignation of Selayang MP William Leong from PKR's political bureau after disagreeing with the party's decision to negotiate electoral seats with PAS, and signs of grassroots discontent with PAS, are enough to put the party in stormy waters, Nanyang Siang Pau said in its commentary today.
And while party chief Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail urged PAS to choose between Pakatan Harapan and Umno, admitting that the party is split over the matter, deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said calls for EGM or special congress were individual requests as the party had never broached the subject.
Azmin's remark does not seem to hold water.
Firstly, the first person from the party to propose a special congress to discuss party overtures towards PAS is none other than Rafizi, who is holding a very senior party post.
Secondly, as long as a third or 73 of the party's 218 divisions requisition for an EGM, PKR has to hold it under the party constitution. According to Yusuf, 56 divisions have already given their endorsement for the meeting.
To be fair, said the commentary, PKR stands to gain should it succeed in forging an electoral pact with PAS in the coming polls but any person worth his salt can see that as mentri besar of Selangor, Azmin's immediate concern is the stability of the state government: antagonising PAS at this juncture might well cost Pakatan Harapan the state.
As for Wan Azizah, it is laughable that she should ask PAS to state its stand as the Islamist party has long made it clear that it had severed ties with PKR.
Time will tell if PAS is really indispensable to the Pakatan but PAS had not done well in general elections except in 1999, 2008 and 2013 when it got a helping hand from DAP and PKR.