In a startling development, Penang Deputy Chief Minister (I) Mohd Fairus Khairuddin has been dropped as the state PKR deputy chairperson following a reshuffle last night.
The decision by the party's state liaison committee has added fuel to the already raging speculation that the 32-year-old politician could be on his way out.
Also dropped was another deputy chairperson, Bukit Tambun state assemblyperson Law Choo Kiang.
Mohd Fairus has been replaced by Dr Mansor Othman while Law's position fell to Machang Bubuk state assemblyperson Tan Hock Leong.
However, the deputy chief minister remains as an ordinary state PKR liaison committee member.
Meanwhile, Zahrain Mohamed Hashim and S Raveentharan retained their positions as PKR state chief and deputy chairperson respectively.
As for the state PKR Youth chief post, it was filled by Balik Pulau MP Mohd Yusmadi Mohd Yusoff.
In an earlier reshuffle after the Permatang Pauh by-election on Aug 26 last year, another state executive councillor Abdul Malik Kassim was dropped as the state liaison committee secretary.
He was replaced by PKR's state election director Mustafa Kamal Mohd Yusoff.
Performance being monitored
State chief Zahrain was reported in Bernama as saying that Mohammad Fairus, Law and Abdul Malik were dropped to enable them to concentrate on their duties in the state administration.
He also added that a special committee headed by Mansor had been set up to monitor the performance of PKR executive councillors, assembly members, members of parliament and council members.
"Those who perform badly will be dropped from the line-up in the coming term," he said.
He also stressed that the move to drop the three had nothing to do with performance but rather, to enable them to concentrate on the state administration.
Talking to Malaysiakini later, Zahrain said the reshuffle was part of the party strategy to strengthen its operations and separate the state PKR leadership from the Pakatan Rakyat state government.
"We just reshuffled to separate party leadership from that of the state government.
"By separating the powers, the state leadership can fully concentrate on party matters while the government leaders can focus solely on state administrative matters.
"This will enhance our state party operations and improve performance of our government leaders," he said.
Asking for a bigger role
Zahrain was also reported by Bernama as saying that PKR should be given bigger roles in the state administration and agencies.
He called on the state government to increase PKR representations in statutory bodies and in government-owned as well as government-linked companies.
He expressed dissatisfaction over several of the state government's decisions which, he said, were made without consulting the party.
As an example he cited the appointment of former Gerakan leader Lee Kah Choon as investPenang executive chairperson.
He however said that relations with DAP and Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng remained good.
"We enjoy excellent relations but as a party, we do need to state our requests. This is normal," he said.
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