Tajuddin gathered signatures of UMNO division heads in bid to oust Zahid, claims Shahidan

KUALA LUMPUR: UMNO Supreme Council (MT) member, Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman, is accused of making a move to topple Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi as UMNO president.

According to a Malaysiakini report, the allegation was made by Perlis UMNO Liaison Chairman, Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim, who revealed that Tajuddin's action was made since last year.

Tajuddin is reported to have mobilised efforts to gather the signatures of more than 80 UMNO division heads to reject Ahmad Zahid's leadership.

"The biggest idiot is Tajuddin because he once gathered signatures from division heads to take down the president.

"This started last year before he was appointed as election director. He got more than 80 signatures to remove the president," Shahidan told Malaysiakini.

Tajuddin was appointed UMNO Election Director on November 4 last year.

Shahidan made the allegations after the Pasir Salak MP called him “bodoh” (stupid) for suggesting that the fate of the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government lay in the hands of MPs and not the UMNO Supreme Council.

However, according to Shahidan, Tajuddin's campaign against Zahid stopped when he was appointed as the party's election director.

"After he did that, I don't know what he said to the president that he became the election director even though he was threatening the president.

"I'm not sure if he's still (collecting signatures) after he was appointed," Shahidan said.

Shahidan added The Pasir Salak MP was not suited for the election director position.

"If he said I was dumb for supporting PN, he is even dumber for fighting the president.

"He is not fit to be the election director because he is dividing the party," he said.

Also making the same allegation was an UMNO MT member who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"He (Tajuddin) called the division heads to gather at his home to sign statutory declarations (against Zahid)," the MT member claimed.

He claimed that Tajuddin's meeting with the UMNO division heads was held before the Sabah State Election (PRN) in September last year due to his dissatisfaction for not being appointed a minister in the PN government and felt that Zahid was a weak UMNO president.

UMNO is now reported to be facing an internal crisis following a dispute over political cooperation in the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government in the run-up to the 15th General Election (GE15).

A growing number of UMNO leaders including former youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin, Shahidan and Ketereh MP Annuar Musa are also pushing for party polls to be held before the 15th general election.