He said this in the wake of former Selangor menteri besar Muhammad Muhammad Taib’s move to rejoin Umno yesterday.
Speaking at the sidelines of an event here today, Nazri, who is tourism and culture minister, also dismissed speculation that more would follow in Muhammad’s footsteps.
“No. We don’t need (that). We are ready for the election with or without big names,” he said when asked to comment on speculation that more would join Umno’s ranks.
Nazri said Umno didn’t want to be affected by such speculation.
“Our mindset, our psyche is already tuned towards the coming general election (GE14),” he told reporters after the Holiday Law Conference 2017 at the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC).
At a press conference yesterday, Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that Muhammad, better known as “Mat Taib”, had left PKR to rejoin the party he quit five years ago.
Muhammad said he had made the decision to rejoin Umno as he believed his struggles in the opposition were a waste of time.
He was the rural and regional development minister in 2009 before being replaced by Shafie Apdal.
He was a member of Umno and Barisan Nasional from 1964 until 2013, when he joined then opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat under PAS.
He however quit the Islamist party in September 2015, after which he joined PKR as an ordinary member. He said then that he had joined PKR as he wished to see a strong alternative government formed.