Zaid: Anwar’s worried

PETALING JAYA: Former law minister Zaid Ibrahim today said that opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim is worried since he is contesting in the Kajang by-election.

“He is just worried if there’s going to be a straight fight between me and him,” Zaid told FMT.

The former PKR member explained that Anwar was only baiting Barisan Nasional (BN) to provide a candidate for the by-election.

“He knows that he has a better chance if BN joins the fray,” he said.

Anwar yesterday said that Zaid was not the real challenger; as the toughest challenge is from the BN.

The PKR de facto leader also dismissed Zaid’s statement that the latter had better credibility as compared to him, pointing out that Zaid was supportive of his Kajang candidature just a fortnight ago.

Commenting on this, Zaid said his statement was taken out of context.

“I said that for the sake of unity; if you want to find solutions agreed by all (in Pakatan Rakyat). That’s why I even mentioned about seeking an audience with the Sultan.”

Zaid in his blog had reasoned for Pakatan’s top leaders to provide the Sultan with a list of prospective candidates for the menteri besar’s post.

“However, I then realised that it was a coup d’etat engineered by PKR. As such, they should not go ahead with it.”

Zaid has surprised many by announcing his intention to stand in the Kajang by-election.

He said he did this to defend Khalid Ibrahim’s continuation as Selangor Menteri Besar, as Anwar is seen to be trying to replace Khalid should he capture the Kajang seat.

A former Umno stalwart, Zaid resigned from the government in 2008, and had a brief stint in PKR before he quit in 2010 to set up a party named Parti Kesejahteraan Insan Tanah Air (Kita).