KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 3 — Umno information chief Shahril Hamdan today took aim at his counterpart in Bersatu, saying the latter should stop attacking Umno and instead concentrate on preparing for the upcoming Johor state election.

In a Facebook post today, Shahril said an earlier statement by Datuk Wan Saiful Wan Jan was false and proved that Bersatu has lost confidence in its own ability to win the Johor election, which is causing it to resort to such tactics.

"Bersatu info chief has once again attacked Umno with accusations just to split up Umno… This is not his first statement that attacked Umno.

"Wan Saiful needs to stop sowing the seeds of hatred, become a divisive agent and (instead) focus his energy towards promoting his party’s offers in conjunction with the Johor elections which will be held soon,” said Shahril

Shahril was referring to a report by Malay daily Berita Harian today, which quoted Wan Saiful as saying that the Johor polls had been triggered by leaders in Umno who are part of the "Court Cluster”.

Wan Saiful reportedly said Prime Minister Datuk Deri Ismail Sabri Yaakob — who is from Umno — should remember that it was Bersatu that had nominated the latter for the position.

To this, Shahril replied that Umno and its coalition partners in Barisan Nasional had met on August 17 last year and unanimously decided on Ismail Sabri as its sole candidate to be PM.

Shahril cited news reports stating the same, in addition to reports that quoted Zahid as saying that he had no intention to be prime minister.

"The Bersatu information chief may have forgotten that Bersatu itself threatened to withdraw support (for Umno), including when Bersatu president (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) himself threatened to ‘press the button’ during the Melaka state elections.

"In their Tan Sri’s (Muhyiddin) own words, ‘if I press the button now, the Johor government will fall,” Shahril said in defending that the Johor elections had not been caused by the actions of Umno leaders looking to get out of trouble in court.

A premature state election was triggered in Johor two weeks ago after caretaker mentri besar Datuk Seri Hasni Mohammad from Umno sought the dissolution of the state assembly despite still holding a one-seat majority.

The Election Commission is scheduled to meet on February 9 to decide the nomination and polling dates for Johor.