KUALA LUMPUR: Umno Youth chief Khairy Jamaluddin today rubbished party secretary- general's allegation that his wing is not performing as expected.
Tengku Adnan Mansor in an interview published in Berita Harian today claimed the Youth wing's performance is below par and blamed Khairy for it.
Khairy, responding to the accusation, said Tengku Adnan's statement is "nonsense" and that the question of Umno Youth lagging in terms of galvanising support for the party does not arise.
"If you look at the reasons for the concerns (raised by Tengku Adnan), the question (of Umno Youth's non-performance) does not arise," he told reporters.
"It is nonsense," said Khairy, who is also Rembau MP and son-in-law of former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
This is not the first time that Tengku Adnan, affectionately known as Ku Nan, has made similar accusations against Khairy.
At the party's retreat in Janda Baik, Pahang, recently, the news had made the round that Tengku Adnan had openly accused Khairy of sluggishness.
The constant attack against Khairy is believed to be the continuation of the rift between Tengku Adnan and Abdullah who had removed the latter from his Cabinet during his time as prime minister.
'Why me?'
Khairy dispelled claims of a fissure between he and Tengku Adnan.
"Why me? What's it got to do with me?" he asked.
He instead said that the party's youth wing has been doing well to garner support towards Umno and Barisan Nasional.
Asked what he thought of Tengku Adnan's latest salvo, the Oxford-educated politician merely described it as a "fatherly advice".
It is, however, not necessary for the wing to accept Tengku Adnan's views nor take it as truth.
"It's like a fatherly advice to a son but that doesn't mean the son agrees with it".
He also said it was best to keep the matter internally rather than bicker openly.
'This is politics'
Speaking to reporters again later, the Rembau MP said he had responded to Tengku Adnan's allegation and given his "two cents worth" to the Umno secretary-general who was also present at the same function.
"What do you expect? Dia terduduk (he was taken aback)," said Khairy when asked how Tengku Adnan had responded.
The Umno Youth chief said he will not raise the issue in the party's coming supreme council meeting.
"This is politics...You don't expect me to wash dirty linens in public," he added.
Tengku Adnan has also been critical of Umno Puteri whose chief, Rosnah Abdul Rashid Sherlin, is accused of being lax in her performance.
She has denied the accusation, telling reporters that Tengku Adnan should keep his views within the party and not air them in the media.
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