IPOH, Oct 12 — Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad said that the decision by Kuala Kangsar MP Datuk Iskandar Dzulkarnain Abdul Khalid to declare his support for Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim could be due to allocation issues.

However, Saarani said the decision by the Perikatan Nasional (PN) lawmaker should be referred to the anti-party hopping law.

He said the matter must be brought to the Dewan Rakyat Speaker and that only the Speaker can decide the status of the Kuala Kangsar MP.

"Maybe he (Iskandar Dzulkarnain) wanted to ask for allocations from the prime minister. Maybe, we do not know.

"He must have his own reasons why he made that announcement,” he told a press conference after attending the "Progam Mesra Hari Bertemu Pelanggan” at the Indera Mulia Stadium here.

Saarani also noted that Iskandar Dzulkarnain could still fulfil the two-thirds majority for the unity government if he decided to support the prime minister without quitting Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu).

Currently, the unity government, which was formed through the cooperation of 14 political parties, has 147 members of Parliament out of 222 parliamentary seats, which is one less seat to become a two-thirds majority (148 seats).

The total for the Opposition is 74, including one seat through Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (Muda) president Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, who recently withdrew his support from the unity government. Earlier, The Star reported that Iskandar Dzulkarnain declared his support for the prime minister by stating that the move was to ease the burden faced by his constituents over the rising cost of living.

Iskandar Dzulkarnain claimed that the prime minister had said the allocation would be channelled to lawmakers supporting the unity government’s policies.

Despite facing the risk of disciplinary action from the party, the lawmaker said he could no longer stand to see his constituency being left behind and neglected just because of political differences.

He said that his decision takes effect today and wanted to know if Anwar would uphold his pledge regarding allocations for lawmakers.