“Anwar is not like Mahathir (former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad). He will not alienate opposition-led states,” Nik Nazmi, who is also the natural resources, environment and climate change minister, said at the party’s congress here this evening.

The government was committed to ensuring that opposition states would not be punished or shunned, he added.

Nik Nazmi said this commitment extended to resolving Kelantan’s water woes.

The PAS-led administration had failed to resolve the matter despite being at the helm for a long time, he said.

“How can you call yourself an Islamic government if you cannot resolve water-related issues?”

Nik Nazmi said Kelantan, as well as Terengganu, deserved a better government and this would be the point PKR would be driving home in the run-up to the state polls.

However, he admitted that it would be difficult for PKR and Pakatan Harapan to wrest the two states from PAS.

But that did not mean the party should rest on its laurels. “We want to be a strong opposition,” Nik Nazmi said.