In a short Facebook post, Nik Abduh announced he will be “fasting” from politics for an undisclosed period of time.

“It is a very difficult time for my mother and I. May PAS continue to grow stronger with the best leadership to spur the nation’s future,” he said.

Nik Abduh is the son of former PAS spiritual adviser Nik Aziz Nik Mat.

Earlier today, political observer Sayuti Omar said Nik Abduh should consider joining Umno or PKR, having been dropped by the Islamic party from defending his Bachok parliamentary seat in the last general election (GE15) and not even being considered as a candidate for the state polls in Kelantan, where his late father served as menteri besar for over two decades.

Sayuti said the PAS man’s standing in his party is fading by the day and that he risked being permanently sidelined.

On Saturday, Nik Abduh’s uncle claimed the former MP was supposed to be a candidate in the Kelantan state election but was excluded by PAS vice-president Amar Nik Abdullah, who is also the current deputy menteri besar.

In response yesterday, Amar denied the claim by Nik Aziz’s brother, Nik Din, saying Nik Abduh’s name was never in the list of potential candidates for the Chempaka state seat.

On July 11, PAS spiritual leader Hashim Jasin was reported to have said that Kelantan PAS had proposed Nik Abduh as a candidate for the state election.

Nik Abduh has since declared that he accepted his omission from the list of PAS candidates for the state polls.

It was previously speculated that he might join Pakatan Harapan (PH) after he had a meeting with PH chairman Anwar Ibrahim, who is also the PKR president. Nik Abduh played down the meeting, saying it had nothing to do with politics.