He said the claim was malicious and aimed at creating a rift between him and Faizal.

The denial follows a post on a blog, which went viral, that Zainol, who is also an adviser to Faizal, had been summoned for an audience with Sultan Nazrin to be appointed as the new menteri besar.

The post claimed that the appointment was being made because Faizal had failed to administer the state well.

Zainol admitted that he had met with some Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders but they had only discussed issues and problems faced by the people in their respective constituencies.

”So I don’t know how the question of my joining BN also came about,” he told a press conference at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan here today, adding that it was deliberately created to mar the credibility and image of the state government.

He said the state government was functioning as usual with all the leaders, including the state executive councillors, focusing on their work.