Is Anwar passing the Opposition Leader baton to..........

Speculation is rife that Anwar would be asked to resign as opposition leader in the Parliament if more PKR MPs quit. However,PAS and DAP leaders have privately assured him they preferred he remain in the post.

This was what Anwar tweeted in his Twitter microblogging website last night....

“Opposn Leader:no problem for yb Kit to tak over fr me. We work as a team unlike Umno!”

In an immediate reaction, Lim Kit Siang pledged full support for Anwar Ibrahim to remain as Parliamentary Opposition Leader and Pakatan Rakyat’s (PR) choice for prime minister even if the number of PKR representatives falls below that of the DAP. Kit Siang said that despite the recent defections of two PKR MPs, he did not expect Pakatan Rakyat’s cohesion to be affected.

“I think there is no change in Pakatan and the PKR despite the present developments,” he told The Malaysian Insider this morning. He brushed off talk about Anwar’s position as the Opposition Leader being affected by weakening support for his leadership.

“I will not even talk about that,” said Lim.

Meanwhile, PAS lawmakers today issued a rare joint statement supporting the leadership of an embattled Anwar Ibrahim, who has seen several lawmakers and former leaders deserting his PKR in the past few weeks.

The statement signed by all 23 PAS MPs and three Senators stated they would continue to carry out the people’s trust given in Election 2008 to bring changes and reforms over injustice, poverty and discriminatory human rights to a government founded on religious and moral principles.

PKR now has 29 MPs after Datuk Seri Zahrain Hashim (Bayan Baru) and Tan Tee Beng (Nibong Tebal) quit in the past two weeks. Pakatan Rakyat now has 80 MPs in the 222-seat Dewan Rakyat against Barisan Nasional’s 137. There are now three Independent MPs and two from SAPP, which quit the ruling coalition in September 2008.

Is BN actually trying to regain the two-thirds majority that they lost not via defections to it but by independents who are 'friendly' to BN?

How much is Najib paying them for their support.......

cheers.