KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 29 — Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s Kajang contest is part of a carefully crafted plan to keep Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) enemies at bay in Selangor, Rafizi Ramli said today as he explained PKR’s latest political manoeuvre.

In a statement here, the PKR leader admitted to his role as the mastermind behind the move, and said he acknowledges that forcing a by-election in Kajang would not only invoke public anger but also consume a lot of money.

He apologised to Kajang constituents for this and said he was willing to bear the brunt of the blame.

“There is no excuse for wasting public money except to offer my sincerest apology and for the party to be prepared if the voters of Kajang decide to punish us,” Rafizi said.

But the Pandan MP insisted that “The Kajang Move” could well be a game changer for PR ahead of the next general election, in that it would not only help the pact fortify its ranks in Selangor but also chart its course towards achieving federal power.

“What PKR and Pakatan Selangor need is a fortification so that we can expedite reforms and simultaneously fend off political attacks and manoeuvres from Umno.

“We need as many of our top leaders around Selangor to defend Selangor because it remains the crown jewel of any political coalition in the country,” Rafizi explained.

He alleged there were recent plans by Umno and Barisan Nasional (BN) to use racial and religious issues to cripple the PR administration in Selangor, which is now led by second-term mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim.

Rafizi said it is an open secret that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s underlings in Umno have been pushing hard to unseat their chief Datuk Seri Najib Razak from his Putrajaya pedestal.

Should Najib fall, he warned, a full-blown manipulation of racial and religious issues to create mistrust and frustration with the Selangor government can be expected.

With this in mind, Rafizi said PR needed to make its move fast or risk another Kedah episode.

A weakened PR leadership in Kedah lost grasp over the northern state during Election 2013 last year.

Rafizi said all three parties in the PR leadership agreed that their best bet was to get Anwar a seat in the Selangor legislative assembly and use him as their supersub should Umno heat up its political game.

“Does this mean there will be a change of stewardship of Selangor government? Maybe yes, maybe no.

“But we do have the option to optimise our leadership potential if Umno stirs up more trouble,” Rafizi said.

In his statement, the leader would not confirm the rumoured plan to replace Khalid with Anwar, or touch directly on the former’s run-in with PKR deputy president Azmin Ali, which was said to be the reason behind the Kajang move.

But he stressed several times on Khalid’s good work in administrating Selangor for his second term running, despite saying that there was still room for improvement.

“In other words, Selangor has to be doubly better than what it is today if it were to become a showcase for Pakatan in its quest for Putrajaya,” he said.

“Just as Istanbul was a launchpad for Erdogan and Jakarta is a launchpad for Jokowi, Selangor can be a great launchpad for Pakatan to take over Putrajaya.”

Rafizi also praised Anwar for allowing his name to be dragged through the mud for the sake of PKR’s latest strategy, noting the Opposition Leader has been accused of using Kajang constituents as pawns in his political game.

“Good political leaders will never be popular,” he said. “It pains me that we have to drag Anwar Ibrahim through this and subject him to public anger, yet his willingness to be a part of the bigger picture is the mark of the man.”

In a surprise move on Monday, PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh resigned as Kajang assemblyman amid speculation of plans by the party leadership to remove Khalid from the mentri besar’s post.

While popular with the general public, Khalid’s penchant for unilateral decision-making in administrating the country’s wealthiest state is understood to be a source of dissatisfaction among PR leaders in the state.