MPs confirm Anwar's resignation offer if he fails in Putrajaya gambit

PKR president Anwar Ibrahim will resign as the Pakatan Harapan chairperson if he fails to prove he commands majority support in the Dewan Rakyat, four MPs from the coalition have confirmed with Malaysiakini.

The MPs, who are from PKR and the DAP, told Malaysiakini this on condition of anonymity.

"It's true, it's true. (Anwar) told us on Thursday," said one PKR MP.

He said this was communicated to Harapan MPs verbally after the bungled vote during the second reading of the Budget 2021.

Anwar raised eyebrows after he told opposition MPs not to seek bloc voting during the budget vote, which would require the votes to be counted.

This would have revealed if Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin still commanded majority support or whether they have shifted to Anwar as the latter had claimed in September.

Most of the MPs grudgingly complied with Anwar's request but grilled him after the Dewan Rakyat sitting which saw Budget 2021 easily passed the second reading.

Following Anwar's resignation promise which was conveyed verbally, a fake statement of Anwar promising to resign was circulated yesterday using the letterhead of Anwar's office.

The MPs confirmed that even though the fake letter was never issued by Anwar's office, the facts of its content was true.

They said Anwar asked for a week's time to prove his majority, failing which he will step down as the opposition coalition head.

Budget 2021 will go for third reading next week, where it will be voted on multiple times as the committee stage will go through the various items ministry by ministry.

With Anwar putting his political future as Harapan chief on the line, the stakes will be high during the budget vote next week.

Publicly, Anwar had said the move not to request for bloc voting was so the opposition won't appear to be blanketly rejecting the Budget 2021, which saw several additional aids to the people.

Privately, several MPs told Malaysiakini that Anwar couldn't muster sufficient support to defeat Budget 2021 during the second reading.

However, he still has time to muster the necessary support during the series of budget votes next week.

The budget vote is a proxy confidence vote and Harapan's only chance to oust Muhyiddin through the Dewan Rakyat as its speaker Azhar Azizan Harun has refused to allow the tabling of a no-confidence motion by the opposition.