In an episode of his Keluar Sekejap podcast, Khairy pointedly asked Mahathir: “Why do you dislike me?”

The question left the former prime minister and Umno president slightly taken aback, but he coolly replied: “Because you contested against my son.”

“And your mother-in-law campaigned for you,” he added, referring to the late Endon Mahmood, the first wife of former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. Khairy is married to Nori, Abdullah’s daughter with Endon.

Mahathir’s response drew a chuckle from Khairy who said it was not true, to which the former Umno president replied that people had talked about it.

Mahathir then asked that the matter not be discussed any further after Khairy denied the claim involving his mother-in-law. “Let’s not discuss that. That is my belief,” he said, when Khairy asked why he believed what other people had claimed.

In the contest for the Umno Youth chief’s post at the Umno elections in 2009, Khairy defeated Mukhriz and former Selangor menteri besar Khir Toyo, and served as Youth leader for nine years until 2018.

He was suspended by Umno for allegedly breaching party rules during the general election in November 2022.