A Sivanesan told FMT that all 10 state executive councillors from DAP, Amanah and PKR had been working well with Faizal, the only candidate to have won a seat for PPBM.

“Perak Umno is daydreaming of discord between the menteri besar and the executive councillors,” he said in response to a report by an English daily.

The report cited state Umno chairman Saarani Mohamad as saying that more than one executive council member had approached five to six Umno assemblymen to gain support for their decision.

“However, Umno assemblymen have pledged not to support them in this move as the party has its own way to form the state government, not through betrayal,” he was reported as saying after a meeting by party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi with Perak Umno members yesterday.

Sivanesan, the Perak DAP vice-chairman, said there could not be a repeat of the fall of the Pakatan Rakyat government in 2009 which he said was engineered by the Barisan Nasional (BN) federal government at the time.

“This time, Putrajaya and the Perak government are from Pakatan Harapan (PH),” said Sivanesan who was an executive councillor in the government helmed at that point by Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin.

Instead, he said, he expected several Umno assemblymen to switch sides to PH after the tabling of the 2019 state budget.

“They are finding it difficult to serve their constituents as Umno is no longer in power at the state and federal levels,” he added.

In 2009, the state government fell to BN after three PR assemblymen crossed over, bringing its majority to 28 out of the 59-member state legislative assembly.

In the 2018 election, PH captured 29 seats; BN (Umno), 27 and PAS, three.

However, Nolee Ashilin Mohd Radzi (BN-Tualang Sekah) and Zainol Fadzi Paharudin (BN-Sungai Manik) subsequently threw their support behind PH to secure a clear majority of 31 from among the 59 elected representatives.

In June, Zainol was appointed as adviser to the menteri besar while Faizal is married to Nolee’s sister.