In a Facebook post, Isham Jalil said Malaysians wanted a general election, not a deputy prime minister from Bersatu.

“The prime minister doesn’t have to entertain them (PN). If they blackmail us, then we will fight back,” he said, adding that Umno is a grassroots party with three million members.

Isham said the prime minister need not bother with the demands of party hoppers, adding that the people took priority over PN’s desire for a Bersatu deputy prime minister.

“Let’s dissolve the Parliament, return the mandate to voters, reset and restore political and economic stability as fast as possible,” he said.

Isham was responding to reports that PN had decided to send a delegation to meet Ismail over his failure to fulfil promises he made to the coalition.

This comes amid revelations that the Umno vice-president signed an agreement with PN before he was appointed the ninth prime minister in August 2021.

According to leaked copies of the agreement, a deputy prime minister’s post had been promised to PN lynchpin Bersatu.

Meanwhile, another Umno Supreme Council member, Razlan Rafii, highlighted the irony of PN being disappointed with Ismail for not keeping his end of the bargain when Muhyiddin had tried to backstab him previously.

“Muhyiddin, in a PN meeting, is said to have suggested that the coalition withdraw its support for Ismail, but was struck down by other component parties. Was this not clearly an attempt to backstab the prime minister?” he said on Facebook.

Razlan added that the agreement entered into by Ismail and PN was only a “memorandum of agreement”, which is not necessarily binding.

“Surely the fulfillment of the agreement would depend on the current state of the country,” he said.