PAS secretary-general Takiyuddin Hassan has refuted the party's Sarawak information chief Zharudin Narudin's statement that the Islamist party could contest under BN's banner in the next Sarawak election.

"Central PAS would like to confirm that it had never made any such decision nor has it decided whether it will participate in the next Sarawak election.

"Therefore, the statement is not endorsed by either the central or Sarawak PAS," Takiyuddin (above) said in a statement today.

Yesterday, Zharudin hinted that PAS was keen to contest under the BN logo in the upcoming state election that is due next year at the latest.

This was considering that PAS was in alliance with Umno, which is also part of the BN coalition, under Muafakat Nasional.

Zharudin had also called on Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS), which was formerly the Sarawak BN chapter that broke away to form its own coalition, to rejoin BN.

GPS is currently leading the Sarawak government and controls 72 out of 82 state seats.