DEPUTY Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi says Barisan Nasional (BN) can take back the PKR-controlled Padang Serai parliamentary seat in Kedah with a swing of 5,000 votes in the 14th general election.

He said it was possible since PKR’s winning majority in the seat has been on the decline since the opposition party first won the seat in the 2008 general election.

“Although we lost by over 8,000 votes in the last polls, we will need just 5,000 more votes this time to win back the seat.

“The opposition’s majority is on the decline, and we now have the former MP N. Gobalakrishnan with us. Today, I am happy he wears a BN shirt,” he said at a gathering attended by BN members and civil servants at the Kulim Hi-Tech Park sports complex in Kedah this afternoon.

In 2008, N. Gobalakrishnan took Padang Serai with a 11,738 vote majority. The former MP quit PKR in 2011 to be an independent, but he has since turned over to BN component party MIC.

In the 2013 polls, the incumbent MP N. Surendran from PKR won the seat with a lower vote majority of 8,437.

“Why is Gobalakrishnan now with us? When he was in PKR, he was very fierce towards us. Everything we did was off and not right. But that is the opposition’s culture of hatred. God has opened his heart and now he is win us,” Zahid said.

“If leaders like him can return, we can convince voters to come back to BN. We have done many programmes to give awareness to the people.”

Zahid, who is deputy BN chairman and also acting Umno deputy president, called on BN component parties to put aside internal issues and work together as a team to ensure the candidate chosen to contest in Padang Serai can win.

“We don’t have to wait long anymore. Parliament may be dissolved next week or next month. I am sure the BN machinery in Kedah is ready to defend the state and take back the marginal seats,” he said.

Earlier, Kedah Menteri Besar Ahmad Bashah Md Hanipah told the people not to make the same mistake of voting in an opposition state government like in 2008.

He said BN lost three-nil to the opposition in the last two polls, losing Padang Serai and its two state seats Lunas and Merbuk Pulas to PKR and PAS respectively.

“Three-zero. My god. The ones who lost out have been the people. What have they done for the people. When storms hit, it is BN that sends people to the ground to help. Their (the opposition’s) faces are nowhere to be seen.

“Don’t be duped again. Even Gobalakrishnan is helping us. He was on the other side before, but he knows the opposition cannot bring change in Padang Serai.

“It is not that we are not smart, but we sometimes fall for the moon and stars promised,” he said.

Bashah also told the people not to believe in splinter parties, as history had shown that no splinter party could deliver the people’s future, referring to Umno splinter party Bersatu, which is led by Kedah-born Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Kedah is being eyed by BN, Pakatan Harapan and PAS. It is expected to see three-cornered fights in seats across the state.

The former opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat won Kedah for a term and PAS led the government until BN took back the state in 2013.

Umno’s Mukhriz Mahathir was appointed menteri besar until he was ousted in 2016 for being critical of Najib. Mukhriz is now deputy president of Bersatu.

PAS – now in its own coalition Gagasan Sejahtera – has announced that it is contesting all of Kedah’s 36 state seats and 15 parliamentary seats. – March 15, 2018.