Responding to Bersatu Supreme Council member Yunus Nurdin, Tun Faisal said Hamzah had failed to perform as the party’s Sabah election director, pointing to its failure to win a single seat in the Nov 29 state polls.

He also accused Hamzah, the opposition leader, of failing to rein in his supporters in the party, leading to their repeated breach of party discipline and the Bersatu constitution.

Tun Faisal did not name anyone but was believed to be referring to the disciplinary action against several leaders who were sacked or suspended, including MPs Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Saifuddin Abdullah and Wan Ahmad Fayhsal Wan Ahmad Kamal.

“Instead of asking Muhyiddin to step down, Yunus is better off asking the deputy president to step down for his failure to execute his duties and roles.

“Yunus himself should step down as Sabah Bersatu secretary since he was part of the reason for our failure in the Sabah state election in November,” he said in a statement.

Yunus is among the more senior Bersatu leaders calling for Muhyiddin to resign as party president to make way for Hamzah, over the dispute with PAS concerning a supposed agreement to abolish the Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairmanship.

Muhyiddin claimed that PAS and Bersatu had agreed to abolish the PN chairman’s post as part of the coalition’s restructuring, but PAS has denied even discussing the matter.

Yunus also accused Muhyiddin of making unilateral decisions for Bersatu, thereby causing rifts with PAS, its key ally in the opposition coalition.

However, Tun Faisal insisted that Muhyiddin had done no wrong and that Yunus, as a Bersatu leader, should understand the party president’s executive power to hold negotiations with his PAS counterpart, Abdul Hadi Awang.

He also said that talks between Muhyiddin and Hadi on PN’s restructuring were still at the proposal stage and had yet to be finalised.