KUALA LUMPUR, March 8 — Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz said today he now planned to work on getting Umno MPs to support Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim as the next prime minister, after he was removed as Barisan Nasional (BN) secretary-general.

Nazri told news portal Malaysiakini that he also wanted to strengthen Umno and PAS cooperation.

"I want to ensure Anwar will get support when he becomes PM. I want to focus on getting as many Umno MPs to support him as PM,” Nazri was quoted as saying.

The former tourism and culture minister reportedly said he met with Anwar last year and promised to provide the PKR leader with Umno’s support in exchange for not dissolving Umno.

Regarding his removal as BN secretary-general, Nazri expressed his preference for Umno vice-president Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein to be appointed to the post instead of Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Mansor.

"I would have preferred Hishammuddin, he was an experienced long-time minister... very mild character.”

"He would have been good for the job, but Tengku Adnan...,” he reportedly said.

After today’s BN supreme council’s meeting, the coalition’s acting chairman Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan said Nazri’s appointment as secretary-general was never finalised.