In December last year, Anwar admitted that Tengku Zafrul was in preliminary talks with his party, despite UMNO saying it would not allow any such move.
In a Facebook post on Friday night, Tengku Zafrul said he had tendered his resignation as an UMNO supreme council member, a Kota Raja division chief and a party member.
He had quit his position as Selangor UMNO treasurer in April last year, sparking speculations that he would leave and join PKR, The Star reported.
WHAT’S NEXT FOR TENGKU ZAFRUL?
Meanwhile, Selangor Chief Minister Amirudin Shari has dismissed speculation that Tengku Zafrul and himself will be switching roles following the minister’s decision to join PKR.
Amirudin, who is the PKR vice-president, said that talks of Tengku Zafrul possibly taking over his position as Chief Minister was far-fetched due to complexity of the processes involved within a short period.
“In my view, it’s rather long and complicated. I don’t think that Tengku Zafrul vying for the Menteri Besar (Chief Minister) post is feasible because it would require a by-election,” he said on Saturday, reported The Star.
“We only have about two-and-a-half years left in this term, so there’s not much that can be re-organised within that time frame. We’ll have to wait and see how things develop,” Amirudin, who is also the Selangor PKR chief, added.
Amirudin also said that Tengku Zafrul’s potential move to PKR would further strengthen the party’s credibility, expressing confidence that they could work well together, New Straits Times reported.
In his statement on Friday, Tengku Zafrul said the decision to leave UMNO was made after considering various factors, especially “compatibility and conformity factors”.
The minister added that he took a long time to consider his decision, as UMNO was the only political party he had joined since 1997.
PKR’s secretary-general Fuziah Salleh said that the party will take into account various perspectives, including the views of its partners in the unity government, when processing membership applications from individuals wishing to join the party.
