ANALYSIS Mukhriz Mahathir will now need to carefully plan his counter move after forces loyal to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak made public their intention to oust him as Kedah menteri besar.

The very public announcement that the state Umno leadership has lost confidence in Mukhriz is an indication that his opponents hope to remove him internally within Umno instead of going through the state assembly.

However, if Mukhriz refuses to resign, Umno in Kedah may find itself in the exact same situation as PKR faced in 2014 when it tried to replace then Selangor menteri besar Khalid Ibrahim who refused to budge.