In a Malay Mail Online report, a source in the MB’s office said Azmin had also been consistent in supporting a constructive relationship with PAS.

State exco member Elizabeth Wong of PKR as well as party vice-president Tian Chua also refuted the report, with the latter saying his party was still in discussions with PAS as to who would contest the seat come June 18.

Earlier today, The Star Online reported that Azmin told three Selangor exco members of PAS that they would have to resign by Monday if their party insisted on contesting in the Sungai Besar by-election.

Azmin, who is also deputy president of PKR, made it clear to them that his party wanted the seat for themselves as it stood a better chance of gaining the support of Malay and Chinese voters unlike PAS or Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah), whose appeal was restricted to only the Malays.

However, according to the report, a Selangor PAS source said the Islamist party was standing by its decision to contest in Sungai Besar.

PAS President Abdul Hadi Awang had also purportedly instructed the three exco members, Iskandar Samad, Ahmad Yunus Hairi and Zaidy Abdul Talib, not to resign but to be prepared to be expelled from the Selangor Government instead.

The by-elections in both Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar are being held following the deaths of Deputy Plantations Industries and Commodities Minister Noriah Kasnon and Kuala Kangsar MP Wan Mohammad Khair-il Wan Ahmad in a helicopter crash earlier this month.

In their report, Malay Mail Online stated that Iskandar and Ahmad Yunus could not be reached for comment.