The denial comes a day after seven Umno MPs had rejected a claim by Pakatan Harapan chairman Dr Mahathir Mohamad that Mohamed Azmin Ali had told him that the Umno MPs had raised the matter at a dinner meeting earlier this week.

Mahathir had also said that the Umno MPs told Azmin, who is PKR deputy president, that they were unsure as to what they should do next and asked if they should defect to another party.

In a statement today, Hishammuddin and his seven party colleagues said the claim was unfounded. They said they had met Azmin to discuss issues in their respective constituencies.

They also reiterated that they had no intention of abandoning Umno or joining another party.

“However if there are Pakatan Harapan leaders who wish to join Umno and BN as they realise that not only has the ‘rakyat’ rejected them, but have lost faith in the ruling coalition, we would welcome them,” the statement read.

Hishammuddin, who is MP for Sembrong and a former defence minister, has been linked to talk of moves to form a new government “through the back door” by a new political alignment involving MPs from Umno, PPBM and PAS.

Today’s statement was signed by Hishammuddin and Shahidan Kassim (MP for Arau), Zahidi Zainul Abidin (Padang Besar), Hasbullah Osman (Grik), Mohd Nizar Zakaria (Parit), Ahmad Hamzah (Jasin), Ismail Abd Muttalib (Maran) and Ahmad Nazlan Idris (Jerantut).

They also denied discussing the transfer of power from prime minister Mahathir to PKR president Anwar Ibrahim, labelling it an internal issue of the ruling coalition.

“It has nothing to do with us as opposition MPs.”

It was initially believed that the meeting between Azmin, who is also the PKR deputy president, and the Umno MPs revolved around an attempt to thwart moves to force Mahathir’s departure.

Hishammuddin has previously denied the rumours of the “back door government”.

Azmin has also stated that his meeting with the MPs was part of his engagement with the business community as well as MPs to get feedback on government policies.