Former PKR vice chief Kenny Chua claimed that Perikatan Nasional had consented to him defending his Inanam seat as an independent.
Chua said the decision was made after PBS reneged on their promise to not field any candidates contested by their allies.
“PN leaders from PPBM and STAR gave me the green light to stand in Inanam,” he told reporters.
Chua was sacked by PKR in July for supporting former Sabah chief minister Musa Aman’s unsuccessful move to form a new government. The state assembly was subsequently dissolved, causing fresh elections to be called.
“I have the right to face the rakyat, regardless if they want to vote me back in or not,” he said, referring to the elections on Sept 26.
Chua went on to say that PBS should not have contested in seats at which STAR was fielding candidates.
Apart from Inanam, PBS is also contesting in Tambunan, where STAR president Jeffrey Kitingan is the candidate, as well as Moyog, Kepayan, Tanjung Aru and Paginatan.
“I think what happened was, many individuals (from PBS) wanted to become candidates, so they allowed it. So, of course people are angry.”
Chua denied he is a ‘frog’, saying that Musa Aman won first before all the hopping to allow Shafie to become chief minister.
“If I was a frog, I would’ve done it earlier. I supported Shafie because I believed in him. But after 22 months, it failed.
“And, before he could be a good chief minister, he wanted to be prime minister.”
He said Dr Mahathir was also at fault for putting the idea into Shafie’s head.
“Dr Mahathir resigned and lost his position, and when that happened, he nominated Shafie. Why is (Dr Mahathir) bringing his fight against (PKR president) Anwar Ibrahim to Sabah?”
He said this was why he, along with 12 other assemblymen, chose to abandon Warisan and support Musa in July.
In the 2018 general election, Chua was elected on a PKR ticket, winning the seat with a 7,783 majority after garnering 13,633 votes.