But PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan said his party’s role in the Semenyih campaign would see a “different level of involvement” from the Cameron Highlands campaign, when the PAS machinery went all out to ensure a BN victory.

“This is in line with PAS’s consistent stand on putting the interests of Islam and Malays above everything else, while maintaining PAS-Umno ties on the basis of Muslim unity and opposition solidarity,” said Takiyuddin.

Takiyuddin did not explain what he meant by “different level of involvement”.

Following his meeting with Hadi, Mahathir claimed that he got an undertaking from PAS that it would not back Umno in Semenyih due to the absence of DAP.

It was denied by PAS election director Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar, who said his party would be prepared to support Mahathir in promoting the Malay-Muslim agenda.

“It has nothing to do with the Semenyih by-election,” he was reported as saying.

The Semenyih by-election pits Pakatan Harapan’s Aiman Zainali from PPBM with Umno’s Zakaria Hanafi, PSM’s Nik Aziz Afiq Abdul and independent candidate Kuan Chee Heng.

Meanwhile, Umno vice-president Ismail Sabri Yaakob told FMT that Hadi would share the stage with BN leaders during the Semenyih by-election campaign.

“Dr Mahathir’s statement is just a psychological tactic to break Umno-PAS unity,” he added.