FMT reached out to several leaders from Warisan, which has nine MPs in Sabah and Labuan. However, some calls went unanswered while other MPs chose not to comment.

Among those who declined to comment was Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking, who is Penampang MP.

Labuan MP Rozman Isli said he “was not aware of all this”.

“For now, I do not wish to comment because this is something shocking and I haven’t spoken to my boss (Warisan president Shafie Apdal),” he told FMT.

Warisan’s ally, Tuaran MP Wilfred Madius Tangau, who is Upko’s sole MP, said he heard the news during his campaign trail in Kiulu, where he is facing five others, including PBS information chief Joniston Bangkuai, for the state seat.

“We just heard about it because we are busy campaigning. Is that true?” he asked.

Earlier, Anwar announced that he had received “strong and convincing majority support” from MPs to form a new government.

Anwar said at a press conference that due to the convincing majority that he had, Muhyiddin Yassin’s government had fallen, adding that the King had consented to grant him an audience.

Meanwhile, Sabah and Sarawak Affairs Minister Maximus Ongkili, who is also PBS president and Kota Marudu MP, also declined to comment on the matter.

Sabah PPBM’s Beaufort MP Azizah Dun told FMT that Anwar was only creating a distraction to influence the Sabah state election and swing votes to PKR candidates, who were contesting seven seats.

“He is an expert at sensationalising things from before. Remember, he said he had the numbers to form the government the last time?

“So, I think he is just trying to swing the votes. This is just a distraction to influence the election outcome,” she said, adding that the party’s seven MPs would remain loyal to Perikatan Nasional.

Earlier, PAS said none of its 18 MPs would back Anwar while Gabungan Parti Sarawak also denied it was supporting the opposition leader.

Click here for the latest on the Sabah polls