Communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa said: “From what I read, Zuraida will meet with the prime minister to discuss the issue of her position and post. This means Zuraida is still a minister until she holds the meeting with the prime minister.”

Annuar was commenting on Zuraida’s announcement that she was leaving Bersatu to join Parti Bangsa Malaysia and that she would be meeting Ismail to discuss her resignation as minister of plantation industries and commodities.

He said: “Maybe, when she (Zuraida) meets the prime minister it (resignation) will be accepted, (but) maybe the prime minister has another view on it.

“We must wait for the meeting and refrain from speculating (on the matter) because it is a normal process by a minister (to see the prime minister) if he or she wants to step down,” he said.

DAP veteran Lim Kit Siang was among those who have commented on Zuraida’s announcement.

He has said that her Cabinet post would be the subject of new political wheeling and dealing as Bersatu had said it intended to have a Bersatu candidate fill her position.

“However, Ismail’s reluctance to immediately commit showed that it is not yet set in stone,” he had said in a statement.

Bersatu secretary-general Hamzah Zainudin had been touted for a possible appointment as deputy prime minister in a Cabinet reshuffle following Zuraida’s resignation.

However, Bersatu deputy president Ahmad Faizal Azumu dismissed the speculation. “Don’t entertain rumours,” said Faizal in Tokyo as part of Ismail’s official visit to Japan. “The prime minister himself is busy meeting with people. I have not seen him sit down with his political advisers to discuss a Cabinet reshuffle,” he said.