The former prime minister, who proposed a no-confidence vote against Muhyiddin, said that certain conditions must be met before he would consider cooperating with the latter.
However, Mahathir did not go into specifics.
“There are certain conditions for me to work (with Muhyiddin),” he said in an exclusive interview on Astro Awani.
Mahathir went on to reveal that there were certain quarters from the government who tried to get him to work with the Perikatan Nasional (PN) administration.
The Langkawi MP, however, said he turned down the offer as he did not agree to work with Umno leaders who were being tried in court.
He also claimed that he was offered to lead the ruling coalition if he worked with them.
“They tried to persuade me, but I told them, there were conditions.”
On a separate matter, Mahathir said he did not rule out the possibility of the federal budget being passed, although he said that the government must realise that the RM322.5 billion allocated can be construed as Putrajaya merely handing out money with no proper plan.
He said the government and the finance ministry should listen to the views of the opposition MPs as they represent the people.
Earlier this evening, Mahathir said all four MPs from his new party Pejuang will vote against the 2021 Budget because the government had failed to consider views given to improve the budget.
Getting back to the topic of leadership, Mahathir denied the notion that he was out to prevent PKR president Anwar Ibrahim from becoming prime minister.
He said the Port Dickson MP should have succeeded him in 1998, but that did not happen because of a few factors, including the latter being imprisoned.
He said he had the same plans for Anwar to take over the reins when he was serving his second term as prime minister under Pakatan Harapan but it did not materialise when the government collapsed after 22 months.
“But he (Anwar) is telling people that apparently I had prevented him (from becoming PM). But that was not my intention. If people want Anwar, pick Anwar.”
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