KOTA KINABALU, Oct 28 — Sabah Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders have been keeping mum on the possibility of its former chairman and chief minister Tan Sri Musa Aman in the upcoming election to contest in his previous stronghold of Libaran.

Its deputy chairman Datuk Yakub Khan today just smiled and did not divulge any information, only to say "ask Tan Sri Musa”.

Other leaders have also declined to reply or said that they do not have information on the issue.

However, rumours of Musa staging a comeback to politics have been swirling around for some time but have intensified following BN chairman and Umno president Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi’s proposal to appoint a deputy prime minister from Sabah.

Some political insiders have said that Musa wants to contest the Libaran parliamentary seat, which houses the Sungai Sibuga state constituency, where Musa was incumbent for six terms.

However, he is not a shoo-in for the seat as Sabah Umno treasurer Datuk Suhaimi Nasir is also eyeing the seat.

Suhaimi, is a nominated state assemblyman as well as Libaran division chief and is said to have the favour of vice president Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

Meanwhile, Musa has been out of the public eye since he was dropped from the 2020 state election BN line up in favour of relative newcomers in the Sungai Sibuga and Sungai Manila seats.

He did show his support on the campaign trail to several candidates of the ruling Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition and still carries significant influence from his 15-year stint as chief minister.

Musa has been keeping a relatively low profile since his attempted coup of the state government in 2020, emerging occasionally in political and personal events but stayed out of the political limelight.

Last weekend, Zahid had said that there were no provisions in the Federal Constitution that prevented more than one deputy prime minister and proposed that BN put up three — one from Sabah, Sarawak and Peninsula Malaysia.

The proposal immediately got tongues wagging about who could be BN’s candidate for the post, with Datuk Abdul Rahman Dahlan and Datuk Salleh Said Keruak also in the mix.

Both Sabah BN and Gabungan Rakyat Sabah coalition leaders have kept mum about their candidate list for GE15 as seat negotiations continue to hit a standstill.