CARETAKER prime minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today dismissed talk by Barisan Nasional’s (BN) political rivals that there is a rift and conflict in Umno and other BN component parties as well as between him and BN chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said the narrative played by the rivals that the BN candidate for prime minister after the general election is Zahid, who is the Umno president, is slander deliberately created to confuse the people and cause a rift in the coalition.

The Umno vice-president expressed the hope that the slander could be well countered by the statements by the top BN leaders, including Zahid, MCA president Wee Ka Siong, MIC president S.A. Vigneswaran and Umno deputy president Mohamad Hasan. All have dismissed talk of a change in the BN poster boy for the polls.

“The perception that our rivals are trying to create is purely false and slanderous and is intended to be nothing more than to cause a rift and conflict in Umno. But, Alhamdulillah, the solidarity in Umno is sound.” Ismail Sabri told a press conference after a Kenduri Rakyat reception in Kampung Bohor Baharu, Kuala Bera.

“There is no rift in the Umno leadership and there is no problem between me and Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid.”

Yesterday, Zahid reiterated the BN stand that Ismail remains the coalition’s sole candidate for prime minister.

BN’s rivals have also claimed that a vote for BN is a vote for Zahid, who is defending the Bagan Datuk parliamentary seat in Perak, to become the prime minister after the general election. – Bernama, November 8, 2022.