PUTRAJAYA, May 14 — Bukit Besi assemblyman Roslee Daud today denied that he was given any impetus to return to Umno, claiming that his decision to retract his resignation was all down to his loyalty to the party’s cause.

The Terengganu lawmaker, who with two others sparked a state leadership crisis after they tendered their resignation from the ruling Barisan Nasional coalition, said the decision to get back with his party was entirely his own.

“It is sad that when we do this people think we were compensated, when we retract (resignation) they say there is a reward. None, there is none of that,” he told journalists after he attended a meeting with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Roslee admitted his resignation was hasty, but denied it was due to factionalism.

He said he was had not been instructed to tender his resignation, adding that he did so out of “shock” that Datuk Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman was picked to be the new mentri besar on Monday without the state assemblymen’s knowledge.

“The decision was made without us knowing. We’ve worked hard to develop the state, suddenly a decision came that the MB was changed.

“I was confused, and when you’re like that many things can happen... this came from my own heart,” he said in explaining why he resigned in the first place.

Roslee also apologised for his decision, and pledged to continue his work for “race, religion and country”.

Roslee was the last of three state lawmakers who quit Umno over the past two days, which plunged Terengganu into a temporary crisis and tipped the balance of power in the state assembly in favour of the opposition Pakatan Rakyat.

Had Roslee — along with former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Ahmad Said and Ajil assemblyman Ghazali Taib — insisted on remaining independent members, BN would have been left with 14 seats and effectively become a minority government.

PR has 15 seats in the 32-seat state assembly, mostly held by PAS save for one seat under the PKR banner.

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 embattled lawmaker claimed he had asked Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to allow him to step down as mentri besar after his daughter’s wedding reception on May 17 but the Umno president reportedly disregarded the request as a “personal matter”, prompting Ahmad to quit the party.