“At the time of the said meeting with Anwar, I was praying (bersolat hajat) at home,” he said after an Umno Supreme Council meeting today.

He was replying to questions by reporters on speculations that he had met Anwar yesterday.

Zahid took over from Najib Razak who stepped down as Umno president and Barisan Nasional chairman two days ago due to the dismal election results.

The former deputy prime minister said Umno respected the decision made by the rakyat on May 9, but stressed that the party still had 54 Umno MPs out of the 78 in Barisan Nasional.

He said the Supreme Council members had decided that if there were any decisions to be made by BN and Umno, it had to be done en bloc.

“We will use all the strength we have to carry out these discussions.”

Zahid, who won the Bagan Datuk seat, also praised all Sabah and Sarawak MPs who continued to be with BN.

He said anyone who jumped ship or supported PH would lose their membership automatically.

He added the party had started restructuring Umno to move forward.

“We will not look backward. We want Umno to be stronger with members from BN in the coalition.

“We urge Umno members at the grassroots level to stand united as the party is undergoing a test.”

He said BN had to recognise it was now an opposition coalition. Everyone needs to help each other to strengthen the party.