KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Khairy Jamaluddin is free to join any political party or do whatever he wants now that he is no longer an Umno member, Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said today.
The Umno president said Khairy is now an independent after being expelled from the Malay nationalist party in January, together with 43 others.
“That's his right, his right to go and do whatever he likes.
“He's no longer an Umno member,” told reporters when asked for comment on Bersatu’s latest offer of a seat in its supreme council to Khairy.
Ahmad Zahid was also asked if he would make a counter offer to the former Umno Youth chief.
“I will not go into strategies. If I did that it would not be a good strategy,” the deputy prime minister replied, after chairing a government meeting on cost of living at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre here.
Khairy, 47, was kicked out of Umno in January as part of a wide-sweeping purge.
The former Rembau MP and former minister had been openly critical of the Umno leadership under Ahmad Zahid, and reported to have said that the party had “gone astray” while campaigning as a candidate for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat in the 15th general election last November.
Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin yesterday held out an offer of a seat in his party’s supreme council if Khairy, currently unaffiliated with any political organisation, joined the Opposition.
