MOHAMED Azmin Ali is no stranger to keeping a low profile and biding his time until he reaps the reward.

When PKR executed the “Kajang move” in 2014 to oust Khalid Ibrahim as Selangor menteri besar, Azmin stayed on the sidelines until he was picked ahead of his party president, Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, the by-election candidate, to be the next MB.

And when a sex video allegedly involving him surfaced in June, he kept his cool, letting others do the talking.

And after he defeated Rafizi Ramli for the PKR deputy president’s post in hard-fought party elections last year, he maintained his silence and avoided party leadership and political bureau meetings.

Azmin again maintained a stony silence at Pakatan Harapan presidential council meeting last Saturday as several leaders, including his president Anwar Ibrahim, lectured the economic affairs minister over meeting opposition MPs from Barisan Nasional at his residence.

A party leader present that day told The Malaysian Insight that Anwar and two Amanah leaders raised the issue at the presidential council meeting, expressing their unhappiness over Azmin’s “lone ranger” move.

His meeting with 22 BN and six PKR lawmakers at his home was just two days after PH’s massive defeat in the Tg Piai by-election set tongues wagging about deals being made with the opposition.

“Anwar said PH cannot have lone rangers acting on their own going around brokering deals with others,” said the source.

As it was, the meeting was already sombre from discussing the defeat in Tg Piai, with PH chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad attributing the loss to the disunity in the coalition.

It was then that Anwar took the opportunity to lash out at Azmin, the source said.

Dr Mahathir told the council that PH did “not look united at the moment”, the source told The Malaysian Insight.

“He said people were calling PH a one-term government and we don’t look united. He said that although the cabinet was united on issues, there was too much bickering among leaders outside.

“Dr Mahathir said PH had to stick together after overcoming the odds to defeat BN in the last general election,” said the PH leader.

Coming on the heels of that, Azmin’s private meeting with MPs from Umno was seen as evidence of more bickering and plotting among PH leaders.

After Anwar spoke, Amanah’s communications director Khalid Samad similarly questioned the reason behind Azmin’s meeting.

“Khalid asked why PH need to talk to Umno at this time. Such meetings have invariably made PH look weak and disunited.”

Although the BN lawmakers said they met Azmin to on getting more funds for their constituencies, the meeting fuelled many rumours.

One rumour, put out by BN, was to invite Azmin to join BN. But as Gerik MP Hasbullah Osman said: “That isn’t logical”.

Another rumour is that Anwar was planning a no-confidence motion in the Dewan Rakyat against Dr Mahathir, the prime minister.

And to “save” Dr Mahathir, Azmin met with BN reps to secure their support and votes in case the no-confidence motion was moved.

But there is little evidence to support the suggestion that anyone was plotting to remove Dr Mahathir.

The closest to this was a piece of fake news that Rembau MP Khairy Jamaluddin submitted a motion to talk about the transition plan between Dr Mahathir and Anwar. But Khairy quickly quashed the rumour.

The speculation about a plot to topple Dr Mahathir, however, remains hanging as Azmin himself has not explained why he met the BN reps.

At the PH presidential council meeting, the source said Amanah president Mohamed Sabu also took a swipe at Azmin.

“He said that it was terrible to ask Umno and PAS to support our own prime minister. Mat Sabu asked how PH would look if it needed others to support their own PM.”

As he has done so well before, Azmin kept quiet and merely listened to criticism.

Next weekend, when PKR holds its annual congress in Malacca, will Azmin maintain the sound of silence? – November 28, 2019.