KOTA KINABALU, May 1 — Sabah Pakatan Harapan (PH) chairman Christina Liew was given a tongue lashing from party leaders after the state’s Parti Amanah Negara broke ranks to contest against electoral ally Parti Warisan Sabah in the Batu Sapi parliament seat.

But Liew said she did not know why Amanah chairman Hamzah Abdullah went ahead to file nominations papers for the seat, only noting that the appointment was sanctioned by his president Mohamad Sabu itself.

"I had nothing to do with it, but I was chastised by the party leadership for letting it happen,” she said when asked about the incident.

She said that in negotiations with Warisan, the latter had promised Hamzah a senatorship if it wins over the state but Hamzah was adamant about contesting.

"I’m not sure how and why Mat Sabu had agreed to that,” she said while on a walkabout at the Segama night market, referring to Mohamad.

In the Batu Sapi seat, Hamzah will be in a four-cornered fight against former Liberal Democratic party president Datuk VK Liew who is contesting under a Warisan ticket,  two-term MP Datuk Linda Tsen Thau Lin from Barisan Nasional and PAS’s Norsah Bongsu.

In 2013, Parti Bersatu Sabah’s Tsen had won the seat by 3,798 votes.

Hamzah had previously said he was saddened about not being able to reach a consensus with Warisan, but claimed he had the blessing of the party leadership to contest the seat.

"We are saddened with Warisan. We only asked for one seat and they did not want to give it to us,” he said, adding that he rejected the offer of a senatorship because it meant nothing in terms of the national struggle.

Warisan, led by former Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, had only agreed to split seats with Sabah’s PKR and DAP.