Umno vice-president Mohamed Khaled Nordin has described the wave of MPs who quit the party as a cancer, stressing that Umno will not lose sleep over them.

However, he said these MPs joining splinter party Bersatu will only cause the party sleepless nights.

"To Bersatu, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you. Accept the Umno members who are migrating to Bersatu as a sincere gift from all of us.

"Believe me, their departure to Bersatu will not cause us to lose sleep. Instead, it will cause you sleepless nights," he said in a statement today.

"They are the virus that had all this while harmed and damaged Umno.

"I am confident that these viruses which had been spreading in Umno will now become part of Bersatu's flesh and blood," he added.

Khaled claimed that these members were "manipulative and experienced" and will take advantage of the political structure in Bersatu.

"I believe, given some time, Bersatu too will become like Umno. Call it Bersatu, but it will, in fact, be Umno 2.0 or 3.0," he said.

Khaled further claimed that these members will bring with them the politics of money and patronage.

"I would like to say thank you for cleaning Umno. Good luck with the leftovers you have collected," he said.

Umno remained the biggest party with 54 seats in the Dewan Rakyat despite losing federal power after the 14th general election.

However, it is now reduced to 38 MPs, making it the third largest party behind PKR and DAP following an exodus of MPs.

They blamed Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi of failing to provide direction. 

Zahid had since gone on leave and handed power to his deputy Mohamad Hasan.