KULIM: Barisan Nasional’s C Sivaraj appears to have withdrawn from the Padang Serai parliamentary seat election less than a week before the Dec 7 polling date, in what is likely a move to make way for the Pakatan Harapan (PH) candidate.
While Sivaraj remained mum on his candidacy, a Kedah BN leader claimed that he had voluntarily “bowed out” of the election yesterday.
“He decided to exit (the contest) yesterday. It was his own decision, we didn’t ask him to go.
“It has upset some grassroots leaders who had worked hard to campaign for him,” said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.
This morning, workers were seen taking down Sivaraj’s banners from the streets in Lunas.
An invitation to a joint ceramah by PH and BN leaders in Padang Serai tonight has been sent out.
Sivaraj had previously maintained that he would not concede the seat to PH and would continue to campaign.
He said on Wednesday he had not received any instruction from BN’s top leadership to give way to another contender.
Speculation of his exit from the Padang Serai election was further fuelled by the BN and PH joint ceramah organised for tonight, the second such event after the one held for the Tioman state seat election, where BN and PH leaders shared the stage.
Amanah president Mohamad Sabu, Kedah BN chief Jamil Khir Baharom, Kedah PH chief Mahfuz Omar and PH’s Padang Serai candidate, Sofee Razak, are expected to speak at the ceramah.
The Padang Serai election was deferred to Dec 7 when PH candidate M Karupaiya died a few days before the Nov 19 general election.
Besides Sivaraj and Sofee, the others vying for the seat are Azman Nasrudin (Perikatan Nasional), Hamzah Abdul Rahman (Pejuang), Bakri Hashim (Warisan) and Sreanandha Rao (independent).
FMT has contacted Sivaraj for comment.
