Shahidan Vows To Defend Arau Despite BN Snub

The four-term Arau MP had hinted that he would contest the Arau Parliamentary seat under the PN ticket.

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Perlis UMNO’s big gun Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim insists that he will defend the Arau Parliamentary seat that he has held for the last four terms despite failing to make the cut in Barisan Nasional’s (BN) 15th General Election (GE15) candidate list.

Shahidan stressed that he is still a winnable candidate and will defend his seat under a different party, although he did not mention which party would be his likely choice.

He also took a swipe against BN chairman and UMNO President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi for allegedly ignoring Arau UMNO’s suggestion of potential candidates for the constituency.

“We (Arau division) have submitted a list of five potential winnable candidates but it was completely ignored by the BN chairman (Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi).

“I will contest on the grounds of being a ‘winnable’ candidate’.

“I will consult my supporters in Arau and they are in favour of a party that leans towards Muafakat Nasional together with Pas and Bersatu (Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia),” Shahidan was quoted as saying by New Straits Times.

Interestingly, Perikatan Nasional (PN) in announcing their GE15 candidates last night, did not name a candidate for Arau.

The seat is allocated to PAS, one of the proponents of the Muafakat Nasional chapter, which Shahidan had strongly backed in the past.

Meanwhile, it was also reported that Sabah-based Parti Warisan, which intended to contest 26 Parliamentary seats in Peninsular Malaysia in GE15, is also courting Shahidan to contest under the party’s banner.

Several heavyweights, including Shahidan, incumbent Ketereh MP Tan Sri Annuar Musa, incumbent Tanjong Karang MP Tan Sri Noh Omar and incumbent Pasir Salak MP Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman were dropped by BN which announced its candidate list for GE15 last night.

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