PKR’s Badrul Hisham Shaharin has shrugged off speculation that he will defect to Umno, in the footsteps of ex-party member Ezam Mohd Nor .

In a statement today, Badrul also denied having received a lucrative offer from Ezam as enticement to leave PKR and join Umno.

“As a member of the party’s Youth supreme council, I will never betray the mandate given to me by my supporters. Although Ezam is my friend, I wish he hadn’t (moved back) to Umno,” said Badrul.

Rumours have recently circulated that Ezam had appealed to Badrul to join Umno and strengthen the leadership of its president and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The speculation escalated when Badrul refused to comment on this, when asked by reporters, saying only that he would “make an announcement after meeting with Ezam”.

“The reason why I said so was because I did not want to be trapped in the whole Ezam exiting PKR debacle as I perceive the matter to be (irrelevant) and unimportant,” explained Badrul in his statement.

He also expressed surprise as to why the media has previously reported that he had held a secret meeting with Ezam (right) to discuss his possible exit from PKR.

“Yes, I have met him (but) the meetings were only a rendevous between friends,” said Badrul, who contested but lost the Rembau parliamentary seat in the general election on March 8.

The meetings were often to discuss the activities of Ezam’s anti-graft group Gerak, which he set up when he quit PKR and his position as political secretary to the party’s de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim.