KUALA LUMPUR: Umno members will have to push at the grassroots level if they want their president Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to go on leave.
Padang Renggas lawmaker Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said that Dr Ahmad Zahid had the prerogative not to go on leave until the criminal charges against him were settled.
"It is entirely up to him to do so in the first place, but you must remember, he was elected by the delegates.
"So, really, if the Umno members want, they've got to have a movement at the grassroots (level) to call for a resolution to ask him to go. That's all," he told reporters at the Parliament lobby on Thursday (Nov 15).
Asked if Dr Ahmad Zahid should step down, Nazri responded by saying that there had been Pakatan Harapan leaders who were alleged to have committed crimes but they did not resign from their posts.
"In the past, there were leaders (who are currently in) government now (against whom) we've alleged certain things but they never resigned.
"So why should we try to show we are whiter than white when they don't resign," he said without mentioning names.
Dr Ahmad Zahid is facing 45 charges of criminal breach of trust (CBT), accepting bribes and money laundering amounting to more than RM114mil.
Despite this, he said at last week's supreme council meeting that the issue of him stepping down had not been raised.
He said there wasn't anyone from the supreme council or youth wing who asked him to go on leave.
Previously, Umno Youth chief Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki had been reported as saying that it would be unfair for Dr Ahmad Zahid to be "burdened" with the many duties as party president while facing court cases in the current political climate.
This is the first time a serving Umno president has been hauled to court to face criminal charges.
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