M Kayveas, who was president of MyPPP until its de-registration on Monday, had said BN never even bothered to discuss seat allocations with the party, which was supposed to get five seats – the parliamentary seat of Cameron Highlands and four other state seats.

However, Tajuddin Abdul Rahman said BN had shown respect for MyPPP even though it did not have “a lot of members”.

He said this could be seen in the behaviour of top leaders including former Umno presidents Najib Razak and Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, while Umno veterans and Supreme Council members were also close to Kayveas.

“Do you think it is easy in BN to share the same stage with leaders?

“But he received respect from BN and Umno. He was a member of the BN Supreme Council too,” Tajuddin told FMT.

According to Tajuddin, BN’s relationship with Kayveas took a turn just before the May 9 polls, when the latter insisted that his party be given several seats.

The outspoken Pasir Salak MP said this was despite party leaders being clear on the coalition’s decision to give candidates only viable seats as they were facing pressure from the opposition at the time.

“Let’s be realistic: in general elections, BN places winnable candidates,” he added.

He denied that BN had sidelined any component party due to its number of members, reiterating that “we only give seats to parties that can win”.

Tajuddin said BN had also honoured Kayveas’ wife, Blanche O’Leary, by making her the ambassador to Finland.

O’Leary’s services were axed on June 30 after Pakatan Harapan (PH) took over Putrajaya.

Kayveas, who initially announced his intention to contest in the Cameron Highlands by-election on Jan 26, has since thrown his support behind PH candidate M Manogaran.

Manogaran will go up against BN candidate Ramli Mohd Nor and independents Sallehudin Ab Talib and Wong Seng Yee.