KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 26 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad does not have the right to demand Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s resignation as he was not the person responsible for appointing the latter to the position, Umno’s Datuk Seri Dr Salleh Said Keruak said today.

Disagreeing with Dr Mahathir’s claim yesterday that he had been the person who made Najib prime minister, Communications and Multimedia minister said it was the Malaysian electorate who made the decision when they picked Barisan Nasional  to lead Putrajaya in Election 2013.

“In 2013, Najib led Barisan Nasional in the general election and the ruling coalition won that election. So, in 2013, it was the people or the voters and not Dr Mahathir who made Najib the Prime Minister. Dr Mahathir was just one voter amongst 11 million voters,” Salleh wrote in a blog post.

“Dr Mahathir is not Najib’s boss or employer who can just sack him as he pleases. Some may even call it delusional that one man can think he decides who should or should not lead the country, as if the democratic system in how we choose leaders and governments no longer exists,” he added.

He reminded Dr Mahathir that it was Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Najib’s predecessor, who had first chosen Najib, and subsequently surrendered the post to the latter.

“It was Abdullah who appointed Najib as his deputy. So, if anyone can claim that he made Najib the prime minister, then probably Abdullah is the one who can make that claim,” Salleh added.

Dr Mahathir has been unabashedly campaigning for Najib’s early resignation from the government, claiming that the leader, with controversies like the 1Malaysia Development Berhad financial scandal plaguing his leadership, could BN to lose Putrajaya in the next polls.

In his latest blog post yesterday to repeat the call, Dr Mahathir claimed that he had “worked hard” to make Najib prime minister.

“But now I want him to be removed, to step down from being Prime Minister. It is nothing personal. It is because he has failed terribly as prime minister,” the veteran politician wrote.

Dr Mahathir also went on to claim that the prime minister’s departure will help resolve the country’s currency and cost of living woes.

In the blog post simply titled “Najib”, the country’s longest serving former prime minister also urged the public to campaign for Najib’s removal, insisting that it is “totally democratic” to do so.