KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — The Terengganu Barisan Nasional (BN) government is in a precarious position and could fall at any time, sources say, following the resignation of Datuk Seri Ahmad Said from Umno just hours after he was forced out of power.

Ahmad Said quit Umno to become an independent assemblyman for Kijal late yesterday, plunging the state administration into a political crisis even as Seberang Takir assemblyman Datuk Ahmad Razif Abd Rahman was sworn in last night as the new Terengganu mentri besar

“Please be informed that I am resigning my position in the party effective immediately. I am also declaring my exit from Umno to be an independent representative for the state constituency of Kijal,” the 57-year-old wrote in a letter dated May 12, 2014 and addressed to the Umno secretary-general.

The letter, published by Malay satellite broadcaster, Astro Awani on its website early this morning, did not state any reason for Ahmad’s departure from the ruling party in the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.

The 57-year-old was joined by Ajil assemblyman Ghazali Taib in quitting Umno. It is understood that a number of other Umno assemblymen aligned to Ahmad Said are also planning to quit the party.

The Malay Mail Online understands that both state lawmakers are now meeting Terengganu PAS and might cross over, giving the opposition pact the two seats it needs to form the majority in the state legislative assembly.

As it currently stands, both BN and the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) pact are evenly matched with 15 seats each. PAS holds 14 seats and PKR, one.

Ghazali, 51, told a friend late yesterday evening that Ahmad might join PAS and he would follow.

Ahmad, who was reappointed Terengganu mentri besar for a second term on May 9 last year, was forced to step down from office mid-term, reportedly due to the BN’s weakest polls performance in a decade.

The BN barely kept the state government with 17 state seats against Pakatan Rakyat’s 15 seats in Election 2013.

Under Ahmad’s leadership, the BN also won only half of the eight federal seats in Terengganu.

In Election 2008, the BN coalition had snagged 24 out of 32 state seats under the leadership of the-then mentri besar Datuk Seri Idris Jusoh, with the remaining eight won by the opposition PAS.

Despite the BN victory, the state Ruler declined to reappoint Idris — the coalition’s choice — as mentri besar for a second term, choosing Ahmad instead.

The four-day impasse between the palace and the ruling coalition nearly caused a constitutional crisis in the state that ended after then-prime minister Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi backed down and accepted the Terengganu Sultan’s choice.