“I did meet them. I have also met Rauf,” said Zahid when asked about the decision on Rauf’s position. “Even married couples would quarrel sometimes,” he said in jest, Malaysiakini reported.

He said “there is no problem” within Melaka Umno.

Last week, a party insider told FMT that Rauf’s days were numbered. He said five Umno division chiefs had met Zahid to demand that Rauf be replaced, and had also signed a petition against Rauf, expressing their dissatisfaction with his leadership.

The party insider said the division chiefs want chief minister Sulaiman Md Ali to be appointed the Melaka Umno chief and were adamant that this must happen before the next general election.

Questions have been raised over Rauf’s fate ever since it was reported that he was absent from Sulaiman’s swearing-in following Barisan Nasional’s huge win in the Melaka elections.

Earlier, Rauf dismissed talk in political circles that he had been trying to pressure Sulaiman into resigning.

This came after the acting head of Alor Gajah Umno division, Rospandi Leman was reported as saying that Sulaiman had come under some form of coercion to sign a resignation letter, as speculated on social media.