PADANG BESAR: Former Padang Besar MP Datuk Zahidi Zainul Abidin said he had submitted his membership form to Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) last month to join the party as a platform for his new political struggle with the vision of strengthening the party in Perlis.
Zahidi, who was a two-term Padang Besar MP and former Deputy Minister of Communications and Multimedia, claimed that his application to become a PKR member also received the blessing of the party’s top leadership.
“My main focus is to strengthen PKR in Perlis by targeting to add 400 new branches throughout the state.
“PKR currently has 60 branches in the state, and we are targeting to increase that number,“ he told reporters after the Sumbangan Prihatin MADANI programme near here today.
Zahidi said his move to join PKR was not out of spite against his old party but rather in his efforts to ensure that PKR could become the main choice of the people of Perlis and thus will be be able to form a stable government in the state in the 16th general election.
Zahidi said the cooperation between Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim and UMNO president and Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi at the central level was also seen as creating a united movement to reclaim Perlis in the 16th general election (GE16).
For the record, Zahidi’s name was dropped as a BN candidate in GE15 for the Padang Besar parliamentary seat and he lost after contesting as an Independent candidate in the constituency in a five-cornered fight involving Datuk Zahida Zarik Khan (BN); Ko Chu Liang (Warisan); Datuk Rushdan Rusmi (PN-PAS) and Mohamad Saad @ Yahya (PH-Amanah).
