“I think the best thing to do is to leave it to Umno to campaign because they know the area a lot better than anyone else in PKR or Pakatan Harapan (PH),” he told reporters here.

Rafizi admitted that he had never campaigned for seats held by any party other than PKR.

“And I’m not too familiar with Gua Musang and Nenggiri because PKR has never contested the seats there.”

Rafizi said each party in the unity government had an edge in certain constituencies.

“There are seats where PKR is stronger and our partners from DAP and Umno would then give us space.”

Last night, former Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan said PH could still make its presence felt in the Nenggiri campaign through representatives from PKR and Amanah.

Umno Supreme Council member Ahmad Maslan, meanwhile, said he would welcome both DAP and MCA if they wished to take part in the campaigning, but added that there was no necessity for DAP to do so as there were only 35 Chinese voters in the Nenggiri constituency.

Rafizi said he could instead contribute to the campaign in his capacity as the economy minister by focussing on economic reforms and ensuring that government policies were being implemented smoothly.

The Nenggiri by-election on Aug 17 was called when the Kelantan assembly speaker declared the seat vacant after Bersatu said assemblyman Azizi Abu Naim had ceased to be a party member.

BN had held the Nenggiri seat since 2004 before losing to PN last year, when Azizi defeated Umno’s Ab Aziz Yussof by 810 votes.