Mukhriz also accused the PAS-led administration headed by the late Azizan Abdul Razak of clearing the Gunung Inas forest reserve, the site of the project, Malaysiakini reported.

Azizan was the menteri besar from 2008 until his passing in 2013.

The land clearing, he said, was carried out between 2008 and 2013.

Mukhriz was the Kedah menteri besar twice – once under Barisan Nasional from 2013 to 2016, while his second stint under Pakatan Harapan (PH) was from November 2018 to May 2020.

He said he had led a campaign against the then PAS state government’s Ladang Sejahtera project in Pedu and Gunung Inas when he was in Umno.

“We protested against the state government encroaching into forest reserves even for agriculture projects. It became worse when the replanting was not done after the felling of trees,” he was quoted as saying.

The former deputy minister was responding to an opinion piece published in HarakahDaily, PAS’ mouthpiece.

According to the author, PH supporters should not blame current menteri besar Sanusi Md Nor, adding that he had “cleaned up the mess” and halted the durian farm project in July 2020.

The durian farm project was blamed for the recent floods in Baling.

However, Sanusi and Takiyuddin Hassan, the energy and natural resources minister, denied any link between the durian farm project and the floods.