Lokman was pitting Najib against Umno leadership - Annuar

Umno secretary-general Annuar Musa has accused the party's sacked supreme council member Lokman Adam of trying to pit former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak against the party leadership.

Defending the party's decision to sack the Najib loyalist from Umno, Annuar (photo) said Lokman had been untruthful.

This is after Lokman publicly attacked Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi and accused him to be conspiring with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir had said he was prepared to cooperate with anyone except Najib, who is now standing trial for grand corruption involving 1MDB.

"He (Lokman) has created a perception that the Umno president had supposedly abused his power and also tried to pit Najib against the top Umno leadership.

"Najib had repeatedly said he does not intend to become president and prime minister again but Lokman (below) lied and tried to confuse by giving false hope to his supporters," Annuar was quoted as saying by Umno Online.

Lokman's sacking brought to fore the struggle within Umno, which for the most part has taken place behind the scenes, on whether to cooperate with its splinter party Bersatu, which is now in government.

Mahathir's party Bersatu has gotten several Umno MPs to defect to its side since the last general election.

Umno's top leaders including Zahid and his deputy Mohamad Hassan have previously also met with Mahathir but they have downplayed the significance of the meeting.

However, Mahathir has not had any contact with Najib's faction, which he had worked to bring down in the last general election amid claims of grand corruption.

Bersatu under Mahathir, together with it Pakatan Harapan partners, ended Umno's 61 years in power during the 2018 general election.