KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — Umno supreme council member Datuk Puad Zarkashi today questioned if there has been a power shift within Perikatan Nasional (PN) after the coalition’s secretary-general Datuk Seri Hamzah Zainudin was named Opposition leader.

He said that the Opposition leader portfolio is usually held by the prime minister candidate, who should be PN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.

"Is Muhyiddin no longer interested in becoming prime minister? Is Hamzah PN's poster boy in the 16th general election and the PM candidate. Is this a power shift?

"Usually the leader of the Opposition is the future prime minister. How could Muhyiddin not want to be PM again?" he asked in a Facebook posting this morning.

He also suggested that that Muhyiddin might have other plans and said that Hamzah is a "great destroyer”.

"Five years is too long for Hamzah to be leader of the Opposition. How does he want to play? Don't let Muhyiddin perish in the hands of Hamzah,” he added.

Four days ago, PAS secretary-general Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan announced that PN has named Bersatu’s Hamzah as the Opposition leader.

Yesterday, PN deputy youth chief Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Kamal told BFM radio talk show The Breakfast Grille that Hamzah was chosen because of his experience in the government and "gravitas”.

He also reassured that Muhyiddin is still leader of the PN coalition and its prime minister candidate.