KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 28 — Datuk Zaid Ibrahim’s carefree approach to what PKR described as “lobbying” for projects was a trait that made him unfit to remain a member, leaders from the opposition party said of their former colleague.

PKR deputy president Azmin Ali said this was why Zaid, who joined PKR for a brief stint in 2009, could not last very long with the opposition party.

“That is why he could not fit in the party, he thinks this culture is normal,” Azmin told The Malay Mail Online when contacted.

Zaid, a former de facto law minister in the Abdullah administration, resigned from the Cabinet in 2008 to protest the use of the now-repealed Internal Security Act (ISA), after which he was sacked from Umno and subsequently joined PKR in 2009.

He also contested the Hulu Selangor by-election in 2010 as a PKR candidate, but lost the federal seat to MIC.

Zaid quit the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) lynchpin later that year, accusing the party leadership of condoning electoral fraud in the party elections.

The politician eventually founded KITA, but quit as party president in 2012.

Earlier yesterday, Zaid was forced to defend himself against attacks from his former PKR colleagues who had accused him of attempting to lobby for Selangor government projects during his stint in the party.

The maverick politician denied the claim, saying he had merely emailed PKR chief strategist Rafizi Ramli about it and that he had not profited from the communications.

“The practice of businessmen requesting for assistance or support from politicians is normal practice in our system and it is done by Umno, PAS, DAP and especially PKR.

“If I had sent two emails to Rafizi, it does not mean I was lobbying. I was just asking for consideration as I felt the project could benefit Selangor,” he told reporters at a news conference earlier today.

But Rafizi shrugged off Zaid’s explanation, stressing that the culture of helping businessmen in securing projects was not a PKR trait.

“He can argue semantics, we see it as lobbying but he thinks otherwise.

“Whatever it is, the act itself is unacceptable to PKR. Whether that is lobbying or not I leave it to the public to decide,” the Pandan MP told The Malay Mail Online via telephone interview.

Rafizi alleged at a press conference on Wednesday that Zaid had sought the Selangor Economic Advisor’s office to influence the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) administration to award two projects to his “friends” and “clients”.

According to Rafizi, and based on an email exchange between him and Zaid made available to reporters, the projects involved were a proposed 26-acre joint-venture with Selangor Property Group (KHSB) in Batu, Selayang and two premium land lots in Petaling Jaya.

Zaid told The Malay Mail Online yesterday that he had never lobbied for contracts back when he was a PKR member.

Zaid, who is contesting against PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim in the March 23 Kajang by-election, took to Twitter on Wednesday to attack both Rafizi and Anwar, calling the PKR strategy director’s “revelations” fictitious at best.

Zaid previously said that the portrayal of the Kajang by-election as the “road to Putrajaya” was a decoy to mask Opposition Leader Anwar’s now-reduced ambition to become Selangor mentri besar.

The former PKR member, who is running against Anwar as an independent, also warned his 66-year-old competitor that this purported path was fraught with obstacles, including an uncooperative Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim and an unapproving state Ruler.

He also said PAS, which is part of the opposition alliance, is not on the same page.

Anwar, who is Permatang Pauh MP in Penang, will also face Barisan Nasional (BN) candidate Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun from MCA in the March 23 polls.

The Kajang by-election was triggered by the unforced resignation of PKR’s Lee Chin Cheh last month, fuelling rumours that the move was engineered to allow Anwar to replace Khalid as MB.