Najib goes into Istana Kinta to try to form Perak government - malaysiakini

Malaysiakini reports:

Perak Barisan Nasional chief Najib Abdul Razak is presently having an audience with Sultan Azlan Shah at the Istana Kinta in Ipoh.

Najib is expected to inform the sultan of BN's strength in numbers in the state assembly that will allow the coalition to take over the control of the state from Pakatan Rakyat.

Also present at the meeting with the deputy prime minister is Perak Umno deputy chief Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. Najib and Ahmad Zahid arrived at the palace at 9.50am.

After the meeting with the sultan, Najib, who is also the Perak Umno chief, will be chairing a state Umno meeting. Top on the agenda would the choice of menteri besar to lead the BN government.

He had earlier cancelled a function in Putrajaya this morning to attend the meeting with the sultan.

Pakatan goes to court

Meanwhile, Perak state assembly speaker V Sivakumar has applied to the High Court to declare that undated resignations letters by former Pakatan representatives as valid.

The three - PKR's Jamaluddin Mohd Radzi and Osman Jailu, and DAP's Hee Yit Foong - have claimed that their quit letters signed soon after being elected as assemblypersons last March were done under duress.

The Election Commission has overruled the Perak speaker on the matter.

Yesterday Perak Menteri Besar Mohd Nizar Jamaluddin also met the sultan for almost two hours to request for dissolution of the state assembly so that a snap state election could be held.

Mohd Nizar's meeting coincided with the defection of four Pakatan representatives to BN yesterday, severely altering the number of seats from Pakatan to BN.

The fate of the state government now hinges on the sultan. Political observers are waiting to see if he would allow BN to form the state government or will dissolve the state assembly.

Among the other developments taking place in Perak today:

• Pakatan Rakyat will be holding its council meeting in Ipoh later this afternoon. Pakatan leader Anwar Ibrahim and all other top guns from the alliance are expected to be at the meeting to show support to Mohd Nizar and the state government.

• A mammoth gathering is also expected to convene at the menteri besar's residence to support the Pakatan government. A crowd of about 100,000 is expected.

• A ceramah to take place at Mohd Nizar's residence starting 7pm with Anwar expected to address the crowd - malaysiakini.com