Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim
SHAH ALAM: Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim yesterday denied that he has resigned as the Menteri Besar (MB) of Selangor.
“Not true…I just finished a meeting and will be attending another later this afternoon,” he told reporters after chairing a state planning meeting at Bangunan Darul Ehsan (SUK II) here.
Abdul Khalid was commenting on news spread on the Whatsapp application yesterday that he would be having an audience with Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah of Selangor at the palace yesterday morning to hand over his resignation letter to step down as the MB of Selangor.
Asked if the spread of the false news was a personal attack on him, he said whatever the reason, the information was not true and the individual responsible was only wasting his time.
Abdul Khalid also urged the individual concerned to stop spreading false news.
Asked further if the act was possibly done by his oppponents ahead of his party (Parti Keadilan Rakyat) polls, he replied: “I cannot say untruthful things during the fasting month.”
Earlier, members of the media had gathered outside Istana Bukit Kayangan and Istana Mestika here following the development.
However, after waiting for almost two hours, the pressmen headed to Bangunan Darul Ehsan on hearing that Abdul Khalid was attending the said meeting.
While waiting for the Menteri Besar to finish the meeting, the pressmen received another shock when a flash (breaking news) came through allegedly from the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) claiming that Abdul Khalid had quit as MB and Selangor PAS Commissioner Iskandar Abdul Samad had been appointed as the new MB.
Bernama however issued a statement that it had detected certain parties using its name to spread false news about the resignation of the Selangor MB.
Iskandar, who also attended the same meeting, when approached by reporters also denied the news.”Not true…they are just rumours,” he said.
It has been reported that Abdul Khalid is now under pressure from various leaders in his party to step down from the post (MB).
Last Friday, an English daily had reported Selangor PKR Information Chief Shuhaimi Shafiei as claiming that the resignation of Abdul Khalid as MB was decided upon at a PKR Supreme Council meeting on Jan 15.
The report said the step was taken to ensure PKR would win the Kajang by-election in March, which it did. — Bernama