KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 25 — Datuk A. Kadir Jasin asserted today that Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had been relegated to being a minority voice in his own party by factions keen on aligning with "crooks and kleptocrats”.

The Bersatu leader said Dr Mahathir’s plea during Sunday’s supreme council meeting that they respect the agreement to hand over power to Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was mostly ignored, and eventually forced his resignation. 

Kadir is a Bersatu supreme council member and was present on Sunday.

"At that meeting, he explained the wide mandate the PH presidential council had given him at the meeting of February 21,” he wrote on his blog.

"He appealed to [Bersatu Supreme Council] members not to force him to abandon his principle and renege on his promise (to hand over power to Datuk Sri Anwar Ibrahim after the November Apec Summit).

"By the look of things, he is not treating their appeal as an urgent matter.”

Kadir’s revelation provides a glimpse into the machinations that ignited a political storm and the eventual collapse of the Pakatan Harapan government Dr Mahathir helped put in power. 

The 94-year-old unexpectedly announced his resignation as the PM and Bersatu chairman yesterday, shortly after party president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that it was abandoning PH.

"He submitted his resignation because he felt that the majority of members of the party’s leadership council (Majlis Pimpinan Tertinggi) "listened more to his Political Secretary than him,” Kadir wrote.

"He was referring to the heated debate at the council’s meeting on Sunday during which the future of Bersatu in the Pakatan Harapan was discussed.”

Dr Mahathir’s status in Bersatu is unclear as its Supreme Council unanimously rejected his resignation last night.

As it stands now, no side has the numbers to form a government, which is fuelling speculation that a "national unity government” led by Dr Mahathir could be in the pipeline. 

But Kadir suggested that Umno may not be a part of that arrangement.

"Whatever form of government Dr Mahathir decides on, one thing is sure,” he said.

"The crooks, kleptocrats, the OKTs (inmates) and the generally corrupt are not welcome. This he made clear to his party at the Sunday meeting.

"The rule of law, the high-profile trials and the reform agenda will continue.”