KUALA LUMPUR — Bersatu chairman, Dr Mahathir Mohamad, has been summoned to meet the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong (YDPA) at 5pm on Monday (Feb 24), hours after he resigned, in a move some speculate is to form a new coalition government.

“Agong has summoned Tun Dr Mahathir to Istana Negara at 5pm, please be there,” his aide briefly said.

This comes in the wake of what some see as a failed attempt by a number of MPs from PKR, Umno and PAS to form a new government on Sunday.

On Monday, PKR sacked its deputy president Azmin Ali and vice president Zuraida Kamarudin for their part in the power grab.

In a counter move, up to 11 MPs from PKR who are aligned with Mr Azmin also resigned from the party and the Pakatan Harapan coalition to form a new independent bloc in Parliament.

At the time of writing, YDPA is meeting with PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Deputy Prime Minister Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

This is the second time Dr Mahathir has quit the post. With this resignation, Dr Mahathir will have the distinction of being both Malaysia’s longest-serving and shortest-serving prime minister.

At about the same time when news of his resignation surfaced, Dr Mahathir’s party Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) also announced on Monday that it had decided to pull out of the PH coalition. MALAY MAIL