.jpg "Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is pictured at the Putra Mosque for Aidiladha prayers in Putrajaya July 31, 2020. u00e2u20acu201d Picture by Shafwan Zaidon")
KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — International Trade and Industry Ministry Datuk Seri Azmin Ali said he met former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad while they both were attending Aidiladha prayers this morning.
Azmin was once seen as a protege of Dr Mahathir prior to abandoning the latter to be part of Bersatu president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s new Perikatan Nasional administration.
“With my children and in-laws to perform Aidiladha prayers at Masjid Putra. Had the opportunity to meet and wish Selamat Hari Raya to [Dr Mahathir],” he wrote on Twitter.
The former PKR deputy president was a key figure in the so-called “Sheraton Move” that led to the collapse of the Pakatan Harapan administration.
While in Dr Mahathir’s administration, Azmin had been viewed as among the former’s favoured ministers.
Dr Mahathir had appeared to cultivate a rivalry between Azmin and PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim at the time, leading to suspicions that he had been grooming Azmin to succeed him.
During a recent interview, the former PM also declined to call Azmin a “traitor” for the latter’s role in the “Sheraton Move”.
“Well, Azmin is a disappointment. I was very close to him, but he was part of this plot to change the government,” he told Asia Times in an interview last month.
