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Published: Monday May 6, 2013 MYT 4:38:00 PM
Updated: Monday May 6, 2013 MYT 8:01:22 PM

GE13: Who will be Selangor’s next Mentri Besar?

By TASHNY SUKUMARAN


PETALING JAYA: Pakatan Rakyat has won 44 of 56 state seats in Selangor, allowing them to form state government.

But Pakatan has not decided who will lead the state government - previously manned by PKR man Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim - and indeed, if he will come from PKR.

While both PAS and DAP scored 15 state seats each, PKR won one less with 14.

Khalid has assured the rakyat that Pakatan top leaders will make a decision within a week.

“The decision has not been made (yet),” he told reporters.

However, it isn't anyone's game - it's a simple battle between two men: the caretaker MB Khalid, and PKR firebrand Azmin Ali.

Azmin, who is PKR deputy president, is allegedly gunning for the position of MB and has been after it for years.

The highly-publicised spat between him and Khalid's political secretary Faekah Husin - who is fiercely protective of her boss - is touted as proof of the rivalry between Khalid and Azmin.

There was further furore last October when Azmin told a Malay daily that Khalid would be made a minister if Pakatan seized Putrajaya, vacating the MB position even if Pakatan retained the state.

Azmin is very much Anwar's man - whispers of resentful friction between him and PKR vice-president Nurul Izzah Anwar only serves to add fuel to flames.

It's common knowledge that the younger generation of Pakatan supporters are split between Team Izzah and Team Azmin, further serving to fracture a party in an unofficial, sometimes-uneasy coalition.

It's clearly a family spat, as PKR president Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, too, is said to have issues with Azmin.

Rumours abound that Wan Azizah was not fielded for a candidacy in Selangor because of Azmin's dislike for Anwar's wife.

But because he has opposition Anwar's backing, Bukit Antarabangsa assemblyman Azmin may be able to punch above his weight class and take on the largely popular Khalid.

Behind closed doors, elected representatives and candidates make no secret of their allegiances.

A source close to Khalid said that Azmin had exploited his control of PKR Selangor to pick candidates he could control.

“He chooses his own people to make sure everyone is in his pocket. But Azmin needs to realise the rakyat accepts Khalid.”

The source accused him of promoting candidates that were close to him and pushing them into safe seats, rather than “winnable” candidates.

The source said it was “an open secret” Azmin “frequently meddles” in Selangor matters for his own political mileage.

When Khalid, who won the Port Klang state seat in GE13, first entered the scene he was as a political novice but a seasoned corporate leader.

A member of the National Productivity Council, he was also chief executive of state-run investment fund Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) from 1979 to 1974 and CEO of what is now Kumpulan Guthrie Berhad from 1995 to 2003.

There have also been whispers that PAS is eager to submit a name for consideration although sources say the party will not push for it for the sake of preserving Pakatan's unity.

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