AMIRUDIN Shari has dismissed suggestions that he remains under the shadow of his one-time mentor Mohamed Azmin Ali as both go head-to-head to win the Gombak parliamentary seat in the upcoming general election (GE15). 

Selangor MB Amirudin has been tasked by his party PKR to defeat incumbent MP Azmin as payback for causing the fall of the Pakatan Harapan government through the Sheraton move in February 2020. 

Amirudin said the fact that he had not followed Azmin in leaving PKR and was not part of the Sheraton move was evident that he had stepped away from the latter. 

“I have not followed in his footsteps for more than two years (since the Sheraton move). I have remained loyal to PH. 

“He took steps to deviate to another path and gave birth to an unstable government,” said Amirudin. 

Azmin is contesting for Bersatu under the Perikatan Nasional banner. 

While the Amirudin-Azmin battle is set to be the headline fight, the Gombak seat also has three other challengers. 

They are Megat Zulkarnain Omardin (Barisan Nasional), Dr Aziz Jamaludin Tahir (Pejuang), and Dzulkefly Ahmad (independent). 

Earlier, before filing their nomination papers at SMK Sungai Pusu, Amirudin and Azmin were seen having a friendly conversation. 

“Amirudin is one of the candidates in Gombak, he is my friend, I definitely expect all candidates to campaign according to the Election Commission procedures, and I am confident that the campaign process will be smooth,” said Azmin, when met by reporters. 

Azmin also said that his services so far could give him an advantage when it came to being elected again to represent Gombak voters in the Dewan Rakyat. 

“I am confident that I have done my best to develop Gombak, I have given service and devotion to provide infrastructure, schools, mosques, suraus and places of worship because we want Gombak to prosper and the people to be prosperous. 

“The reception is quite convincing, but I have to continue working hard, I don’t take it for granted, the maturity of the voters is high enough they want to see a candidate who is able to form a clean and strong government,” said Azmin. 

Celebrity Azwan Ali, who is also Azmin’s younger brother, was also present at the nomination centre but decided against contesting at the last minute. 

He said his late mother told him in a dream not to contest. – November 5, 2022.