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Kota Kinabalu: Sabah Umno Deputy Chief Datuk Seri Abdul Rahman Dahlan hit back at his party boss, Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin, over his (Rahman’s) decision to invite Gabungan Rakyat Sabah Chairman Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor to a party meeting.

Rahman said Tuaran Umno had the right to invite whoever it wanted to the meeting, which was attended by Umno President Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

He said Tuaran Umno decided to invite Hajiji, who is also the Chief Minister, to honour the formation of the federal Unity Government which GRS is a part of.

The Umno Supreme Council member said Zahid himself was aware of Hajiji’s presence as a guest and insisted on officiating the meeting despite being advised by “certain parties” against attending.

“It’s Tuaran Umno’s right to invite whoever it wants. In any case, Tuaran Umno did not protest the presence of Sabah Umno leaders at events organised by other parties,” he said in a statement.

While he did not go into details, he is believed to be referring to Bung attending Warisan’s general assembly last December, where its President, Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal, announced that Warisan and Sabah Umno would work together in the next state elections.

This was swiftly denied by Rahman, who said the Sabah Umno leadership was still engaging “with all parties”.

Barisan Nasional Deputy Chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan later said the federal BN leadership would make the final decision on any election pact by Sabah BN.

Earlier Thursday, Bung said Rahman had made an “inappropriate” mistake in inviting Hajiji to the Tuaran Umno meeting as the event was for Zahid to talk about Sabah Umno’s direction and strategy.

With Hajiji in attendance, Zahid could not do so, said Bung, who led an attempt to unseat Hajiji as the Sabah Chief Minister last year.

Sabah Pakatan Harapan Chief Datuk Christina Liew had also attended the meeting alongside Hajiji. Bung was not invited and was instead at a Sepanggar Umno meeting, which was also officiated by Zahid.

Rahman said there was no question of Sabah Umno’s political strategy being revealed to its rivals as the officiating speech of the Tuaran Umno meeting was conventionally held openly, with the press in attendance.

He also said all Sabah Umno division chiefs had been invited to the meeting.

“There is no such thing as two captains steering the ship in Sabah Umno. I have never disrupted the administration of Sabah Umno and never have I, in my position as Sabah Umno deputy chief, tried to block efforts to strengthen the state chapter.

“However, as the person who proposed granting autonomy to Sabah Umno to the party president in 2018, I merely want Sabah Umno’s top leadership to hold discussions whenever any major decision involving the state chapter’s future needs to be made.”