JOHOR BARU, Jan 18 — Umno supreme council member Datuk Mohd Puad Zarkashi criticised the Johor DAP leadership today for branding his party insane in seeking a premature state election.

He said it was the rival party that was insane for being adamantly against a state election when there was just a one-seat majority in the assembly.

"DAP wants a government with a one-seat majority in Johor to continue. With such an unstable political scenario, it will be easy for the state government to be threatened and manipulated.

"That is DAP’s motive, besides being afraid of losing,” said Mohd Puad on his official Facebook today.

He was believed to be responding to Johor DAP’s statement yesterday alleging that Umno’s top leadership was plotting to trigger a premature state election that could pave the way for the 15th general election (GE15) soon.

Mohd Puad went on to explain that with the state government having a one-seat majority, there are bound to be parties who will be disruptive and demanding.

"That is why there needs to be a strong majority government. This is not insane work, but blocking (the effort) is insane work,” he said.

Recently, Johor Pakatan Harapan (PH) and the state’s DAP has been actively seeking to maintain the current one-majority state government led by Umno’s Datuk Hasni Mohammad.

This follows speculation that Johor may hold a state election soon shortly after the death of Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia’s (Bersatu) Kempas assemblyman Datuk Osman Sapian last December 21.

The death of Osman, whose party is part of the ruling Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition, had put the current state government situation as a one-seat majority in the Johor state assembly.

Hasni leads the state government with 28 seats (Barisan Nasional (BN) holds 16 seats while Bersatu has 11 seats and PAS one).

The Opposition PH coalition controls 27 seats in the Johor state assembly comprising DAP with 14, Amanah (six) and PKR (seven).