UMNO leaders in Kedah are attacking Pakatan Harapan’s candidate for Jitra, Mukhriz Mahathir, by attributing his rise in politics to his father, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is now leading the opposition.

Kubang Pasu incumbent Mohd Johari Baharom said Mukhriz had no influence in Jitra, a state seat under the Kubang Pasu federal constituency, because he had “nothing”.

The caretaker deputy defence minister said he was confident of defending Kubang Pasu as people had not been impressed with Mukhriz’s performance when he was Kedah menteri besar for less than a term since 2013.

“He thinks he has influence here, but he became an Umno leader because he was very lucky to be the son of a (former) prime minister,” Johari said in reference to Mukhriz’s father, Dr Mahathir.

“He never took care of Kubang Pasu when he was the menteri besar. He was always in Kuala Lumpur.

“He wasn’t interested in Kubang Pasu because he wanted to be a prime minister,” Johari told Malaysia Decides after an appreciation dinner for Kubang Pasu civil servants in Jitra last night.

Barisan Nasional won the Jitra state seat by 3,056 votes in 2013.

Johari, a former political secretary to Mahathir, has been representing Kubang Pasu since 2004 following Mahathir’s retirement from politics.

In the 2013 polls, Johari won the federal seat by 10,444 votes.

Kubang Pasu underwent major development from being a traditional agricultural settlement in the 1970s, after Dr Mahathir became its first MP in 1974.

He started Universiti Utara Malaysia, Politeknik Sultan Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah, and the Kedah Matriculation College, and turned the Bukit Kayu Hitam state seat into an industrial area.

Bukit Kayu Hitam is also under the Kubang Pasu federal seat.

In 2013, BN also won the Bukit Kayu Hitam state seat with a majority of 7,873 votes. – May 1, 2018.