THE rationale of inviting two former menteris besar of Selangor, Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and Muhammad Muhd Taib, to today’s Umno Selangor convention today should not be questioned, said Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said he appreciated their efforts while they were with Barisan Nasional.

“I appreciate the effort done by Khalid because his agenda is the same as ours (BN),” he said at a press conference after the Umno Selangor convention in Putra World Trade Centre.

Khalid made an appearance during the opening of the convention.

However, Khalid’s aide told The Malaysian Insight the former PKR leader was not joining Umno.

“Mat Taib had changed ‘mansions’ twice but in the end he chose a ‘mansion’ filled with the colour red and we truly welcome his presence,” said Zahid.

Muhammad quit Umno in 2013 to join PAS and left the party to join PKR in 2015. He rejoined Umno in September.

Zahid said there had been no candidates for the Selangor menteri besar position if Umno wins back the state.

“In my speech I had mentioned Noh Omar does not want to be the menteri besar. He only wants to strengthen Umno Selangor.

“The question of who would be the next menteri besar would be decided after the 14th general elections (GE14),” said Zahid.

Khalid and Muhammad are believed to be key figures in Umno’s strategy to wrest Selangor from Pakatan Harapan.

Selangor BN chairman Noh said if Khalid joined Umno again, the party could show Selangor voters the development in the state was due to plans and policies laid out by past menteris besar from Umno.

“As former menteris besar, they will use it as a basis to explain to the people how their policies in the past were the cause of Selangor’s advancement today,” Noh had previously said.