PH, BN chiefs skip mega gathering in battle for Selangor

The chairmen of Pakatan Harapan (PH) and Barisan Nasional (BN) have skipped their coalitions' joint gathering tonight, held as part of efforts to ward off the fight put up by Perikatan Nasional (PN) which also held a gathering attended by the coalition's main leaders.

Neither PH's Anwar Ibrahim nor BN's Ahmad Zahid Hamidi attended the event at Dataran Kemerdekaan in Shah Alam, less than 1km away from PN's gathering at the Ideal Convention Centre which was attended by top PN leaders including its chairman Muhyiddin Yassin and Selangor chief Mohamed Azmin Ali.

This was despite publicity material and posters of PH's "Jelajah Mega Madani" listing top government and ruling party leaders as the main speakers.

DAP leader Anthony Loke also gave the programme a miss.

Selangor is seen as a battlefront state in the coming polls, which will show whether voters have accepted the new political cooperation between PH and BN, as well as whether the bulk of Malay support is still in the PN camp.