The DAP chairman said he had met Ismail Sabri Yaakob in Parliament after the Johor elections where he congratulated the latter for being named as Umno’s “poster boy” for the 15th general election.

Ismail, according to Lim, then joked saying as long as he (Ismail) was not a poster on a tree.

To which, Lim shot back: It could end up like Johor.

“We both laughed referring to what happened in Johor, when the original menteri besar designate Hasni Mohammad was replaced at the last minute with Onn Hafiz Ghazi,” Lim told FMT.

Prior to the Johor polls, Barisan Nasional (BN) chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi had announced that Hasni would be nominated for a new term as Johor menteri besar if BN succeeded in forming the new state government.

BN subsequently won 40 of the 56 state seats.

However, Onn, the Machap assemblyman, was sworn in as menteri besar instead.

“Looking back, this joke seems ironic and has taken on a new life with Puad Zarkashi’s cryptic comments about no poster boy being needed for Umno,” Lim said, referring to the Umno Supreme Council member.

Yesterday, Puad said the party no longer needed a “poster boy” for the 15th general election as it was “no longer relevant”.

“Even if a decision had already been made, it is now a liability. It’s better to just cancel the ‘poster boy’,” Puad said in a Facebook post, adding that it would be easier to use the BN logo instead.

In April, the Umno Supreme Council agreed to name Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob its “poster boy” for GE15.