A file picture of Azmin speaking at a ceramah with Anwar in the backdrop on April 29, 2013, in the lead up to the 13th General Election. – The Star/SHAHRUL FAZRY ISMAIL
PETALING JAYA: Datuk Seri Azmin Ali claims that his former boss turned political rival Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim still regarded him as his former private secretary even though he was supposedly "more successful" than the Prime Minister.
"Anwar could not see me being more successful than him. He still saw me as his private secretary," he said in the Keluar Sekejap podcast hosted by Khairy Jamaluddin and Shahril Hamdan.
Azmin said he was not considered for the Sealngor mentri besar post despite being the first state assemblyman from PKR, and the late Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim was chosen instead.
He also claimed that the Kajang Move, which aimed to unseat Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim as the Selangor mentri besar, was the "biggest betrayal" in Selangor political history.
Azmin, who is now with Perikatan Nasional, said he offered to contest for the PKR president post in 2018 if Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ibrahim did not want to defend the post.
He said she eventually decided to contest the post but there was no consideration from Anwar to ensure that the no.2 post, which he held, was uncontested.
Azmin claimed that his name was not in PKR's proposed list of cabinet members in Dr Wan Azizah's letter to then-prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad, adding it was the veteran statesman who picked him to be a minister.
When Khairy asked if this was when Azmin decided to "knife" Anwar, he replied: "he knifed me and he sacked me."
"I never defected from the party... This is a record I want to defend. Why should I leave the party when two-thirds of the party are my camp who won in the party polls.
On the question of loyalty, Azmin said his for Anwar had a limit.
Azmin said he did not ask Anwar to acknowledge his commitment towards him and his family when he was in jail.
"He did not have respect or gratitude for me and his friends. He did not build PKR. He was behind bars for many years – my friends and I built this party, Dr Wan Azizah had her limitations and she was just a party symbol.
"When he got out of prison... I hoped Anwar would be a better person and not a bitter person but the reverse happened," he said.
Azmin, who was one of the founding members of PKR, was expelled in 2020 after the Sheraton Move.
