Former PAS candidate Dr Azman Ibrahim said elections were a serious matter and required machinery.
In a Facebook outburst, the dentist said parties which had “no branches, members and machinery” should not expect PAS to let them contest in seats they had lost in the last elections.
This followed Muhyiddin’s speech in Kemaman on Saturday – his maiden appearance at a PAS event – where he suggested that his one-month-old PPBM could take on BN-held seats in Terengganu.
“We do not want to take seats which have been won by PAS, but seats won by Umno, give us these seats so we can defeat Umno. We will defeat Umno and form the government together,” Muhyiddin told the gathering, amid efforts to get PAS to agree on an electoral pact with other opposition parties to ensure one-to-one contests at the next polls.
Azman said PAS’s chances of winning in BN strongholds should not be dismissed.
“Neither should they think that just because PAS has no chance of winning in a constituency, they are entitled to contest there,” said Azman, who had stood for the state seat of Jabi in the 2013 general election.
Muhyiddin’s suggestion was, however, welcomed by Terengganu Amanah, which said it was ready to negotiate with PPBM and PAS to ensure straight fights with BN.
“It will be an uphill task,” Amanah’s Terengganu Election Bureau Chairman Mohd Zubir Mohamad told FMT.
PAS has so far declined to cooperate with Amanah, the party formed by several former leaders following the purge of non-religious scholars from PAS in the wake of the PAS muktamar last year.
PAS, which already has cut ties with DAP, still maintains cooperation with PKR.
Muhyiddin’s gestures to PAS come at a time when the ruling BN is faced with a rebellion led by its former menteri besar Ahmad Said in Terengganu.
The BN is currently ruling with a two-seat majority. It has 17 seats against the opposition’s 15.
PAS, which has 14 state seats in the state assembly, also controls three parliamentary constituencies in the state: Marang, Dungun and Kuala Nerus.
Terengganu has long been considered a stronghold of PAS, which ruled the state for one term following the 1999 general election.
Analysts say the fragile political balance and the power struggle within the state BN could work in favour of PAS, but the party has indicated it preferred to wait for state-wide polls.