Saturday May 11, 2013

GE13: Rival Pakatan factions fight it out in cyberspace

PETALING JAYA: The battle lines between rival factions in PKR appear to have been drawn after deputy president Azmin Ali's dramatic press conference, with the fight already started in cyberspace.

As soon as Azmin sent puzzling tweets about the party's state of affairs and appeared to criticise Wednesday's mammoth rally to reject the general election results, vocal personalities took to Twitter to make their allegiance known.

Although most top leaders kept their silence on the ongoing internal fight, PKR legal affairs bureau chief Latheefa Koya did not stop slamming those lobbying for Khalid to continue as mentri besar.

“It's not surprising that most of those churning out anti-Azmin tweets are the same guys who supported Zaid (Ibrahim) during the PKR elections!” she tweeted, referring to the former PKR leader who eventually left the party.

“Secretly. the TSKI suck-ups' are basically hoping Azmin leaves - hence the taunting,” she added referring to Khalid's initials.

PKR chief Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's aide Najwan Halimi, who is also the Angkatan Muda Keadilan deputy information chief, also rebuked Azmin's detractors, including state PAS deputy Youth chief Mohd Sany Hamzan.

Sany said that PAS was upset over statements by PKR leaders that the MB's post was permanently theirs even though PKR holds the least seats.

In response, Najwan tweeted that he was disappointed with Sany's “arrogant” and “selfish” attitude.

“To the Selangor PAS deputy Youth chief, don't butt in. Who betrayed the Pakatan Rakyat candidate in the Kota Damansara state seat?” he asked.

But those close to party president Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who endorsed Khalid, rallied against Azmin.

Newly-elected Kelana Jaya MP Wong Chen tweeted this Thursday night, after it was rumoured that Azmin would leave the party: “Rumours of defections are rife tonight. If it comes true tomorrow I have only two words to traitors: good riddance!”

“I am with the younger generation of Pakatan leaders who are here for the long haul,” he tweeted again yesterday.

For more election stories, please visit The Star's GE13 site

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