Mohd Khairuddin joins PKR: Pakatan Harapan will face a crisis

SHAH ALAM: The move by Mohd Khairuddin Othman, the incumbent assemblyman for Paya Jaras, to leave PAS and join PKR will lead to an internal conflict for Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Selangor.
PAS vice-president Datuk Iskandar Abdul Samad said if Mohd Khairuddin were to be nominated again for the seat, then Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) would lose the seat.
"This means that the Amanah candidate aspiring to contest the state assembly seat will be disappointed and a crisis would develop and could spread to other areas," he said in a statement, here today.
The participation of Mohd Khairuddin, who is also the former Selangor PAS secretary, in PKR was announced by PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali in a Pakatan Harapan 'ceramah' (talk) in Sungai Buloh on Sunday night.
Selangor Amanah chairman Izham Hashim had earlier stated that the Paya Jaras seat was among the nine state assembly seats that would be contested by Amanah in the 14th General Election (GE14), following a negotiation on the distribution of Selangor PH seats as of March 8.
To date, Selangor PH has failed to finalise the distribution of all the 56 state assembly seats, which was confirmed by Mohamed Azmin, who is also the Selangor PH chairman, yesterday.
In addition, Iskandar, who is also the incumbent for the state legislative assembly seat for Pandan Indah (Chempaka), said the effects of Mohd Khairuddin's move to another party was limited to only the Paya Jaras constituency, and it would not have any major impact on PAS in the other areas in Selangor.
"Selangor PAS assemblymen are in high spirits to face the GE14 and the PAS machinery in the respective areas are moving as usual. I am confident that PAS will be able to defend the Paya Jaras seat," he said.
Iskandar, meanwhile, said as a vice-president of the party tasked with the responsibility of monitoring Selangor, he would ask Selangor PAS to submit a comprehensive report on Mohd Khairuddin's entry into PKR.
In GE13, Mohd Khairuddin defeated BN candidate Datuk Muhammad Bushro Mat Johor with a majority of 5,522 votes. — Bernama