Ketereh MP Khlir Nor, said to be a potential successor of Hamzah as opposition leader, said such a claim was made up by the party’s foes to bring it down.

“These are just rumours to topple Perikatan Nasional. This is the work of our political enemies. They have their own bloggers (cybertroopers) too.

“I’ve also heard rumours about me taking over as the opposition leader,” he told FMT.

Yesterday, FMT quoted a source as saying that Muhyiddin and Hamzah have been at loggerheads on the direction the party should take.

Rumours of a clash followed a recent Malaysia Gazette report which suggested that Hamzah was likely to be replaced as the opposition leader in Parliament by PN, with Khlir or Arau MP Shahidan Kassim being probable candidates.

Khlir said Bersatu had not discussed replacing Hamzah as opposition leader.

Separately, another source from Bersatu claimed the Muhyiddin-Hamzah rift stemmed from Azmin Ali’s role in the party.

Azmin, who is being groomed to be the party’s future “poster boy”, has been involved in some high-level discussions which excluded Hamzah.

In response, Khlir said there was no truth to this claim too and that Azmin was “doing a great job”.