Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said some grassroots members had questioned the BN-PN arrangement, but said there was no widespread dissatisfaction.SEREMBAN: Pejuang president Mukhriz Mahathir said the party has reservations about Perikatan Nasional's pact with Barisan Nasional for the Negeri Sembilan polls, but says it accepted the alliance as the priority was to oust Pakatan Harapan from the state government.Mukhriz, who is also PN deputy chairman, said the party had "slight differences of opinion" about the pact but eventually recognised that this was the best formula to defeat PH. "We are a very new member in PN and we are not about to rock the boat so early in our membership," he said.He said BN realised that it needed "a little more help" to win the Negeri Sembilan state election despite its good odds at forming the government."The main priority is to ensure that the PH state government is defeated - soundly, if we can. We may have slight differences of opinion, but we totally agree that this combination between PN and BN will result in a new government, with PH out of government,” he told FMT.Mukhriz said discussions on the BN-PN pact's longer-term direction could take place after the Aug 1 polls, particularly to determine the messages to push under this new alliance.Pejuang was founded by Mukhriz's father, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, as an offshoot of Bersatu, which itself is an Umno splinter.
Mahathir quit Umno in 2016 while Mukhriz was sacked for being openly critical of then prime minister Najib Razak over the 1MDB scandal.Asked whether Pejuang viewed working with the Umno-led BN as a compromise of its principles or a matter of political necessity, Mukhriz insisted that his party remained committed to its founding ideals."We always say Pejuang is firm in its principles. At the same time, people talk to us about political pragmatism. We try to understand what that means.
Does that mean a major compromise in principles? That would be a problem for us."We have a strong core support among like-minded people who believe whatever government we want to form must be a government of integrity."This (BN-PN) combination is still at a very early stage. There has been no substantial discussion about how the two sides will work together,” said Mukhriz, a former Kedah menteri besar.Mukhriz added that Pejuang would seek greater clarity on the B…
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