KUALA LUMPUR:Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR)'s action in accusing former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad of obstructing efforts to restore the people's mandate has been dismissed as a hasty and baseless statement.

Parti Pejuang Tanahair (Pejuang) pro-tem Information Chief, Ulya Aqamah Husamudin, said the cause of the ‘Sheraton Move’ was due to the betrayal of Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali and Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s camps.

"If Dr Mahathir wants to remain as Prime Minister until today, he could have been with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government because he is actually PN’s candidate for prime minister.

“However, Dr Mahathir did not agree with the betrayal and he was ready to be removed from the party he founded himself in order to defend the people's mandate and keep his promises to the Pakatan Harapan (PH) components," he said in a statement here on Saturday.

Ulya Aqamah said he asked the opposition bloc to stop fighting, especially involving small issues.

In this regard, he called on all parties to find a common ground in mobilising efforts and working together to reject a government that was stolen and colluded with kleptocrats.

"If Dr Mahathir did not resign, Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and Mohamed Azmin's group will still leave PH and cause the PH government to fall," he said.

Commenting further, Ulya Aqamah said, when PKR President, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim announced to have sufficient majority support, he himself said the numbers did not include Pejuang.

"The fact is that PKR initially did not want to cooperate with Pejuang and more surprisingly, they were willing to conspire with UMNO, including some kleptocratic politicians.

"How are the accusations thrown at Dr Mahathir and Pejuang when Anwar himself did not discuss the issue of support," he said.

Earlier, PKR Information Chief, Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin claimed that Dr Mahathir Mohamad had tried to prevent Pakatan Harapan (PH) from returning to power.

This was after Dr Mahathir, who is former PH chairman, openly claimed that Anwar was unable to lead this country which was facing an economic crisis.