While he did not provide any names, Puad said some of the “heavyweight leaders” who were not picked for GE15 have threatened that their omission would lead to a “disaster” for Umno.

“Actually, keeping the stubborn ones is a disaster for the party. They do not obey the party’s decisions and they burden the party,” he said in a Facebook post.

“It’s better to drop them. Their attitude provides our opponents with ammunition to criticise the party.

“They must be made to stand aside,” he said, adding that he was confident the party’s grassroots would respect the decision.

BN’s list of candidates for Peninsular Malaysia which Barisan Nasional chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi unveiled last night comprised a number of new faces and the notable omission of several Umno ministers and deputy ministers.

Among them are Annuar Musa, Shahidan Kassim, Noh Omar, Dr Adham Baba and Halimah Sadique.

Shahidan, the federal territories minister, yesterday said he would defend the Arau seat despite being dropped by BN.

It has been speculated that the former MPs were not given tickets to contest GE15 as they are aligned with Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

While Ismail was previously named BN’s prime ministerial candidate should the coalition win GE15, there have been rumours that Zahid gave BN candidates their “surat watikah” (appointment letters) to contest the polls on condition that they sign letters supporting him as the next prime minister.

Zahid has denied the claims.