Earlier this year, Perak PKR chief Farhash Wafa Salvador Rizal Mubarak decided to leave behind all his party positions in the state in a bid to contest in Gombak against the incumbent division chief Amirudin Shari, who also heads the Selangor PKR.

Less was known then of his motive to challenge the Selangor menteri besar whose loyalty to the party is often questioned by Anwar loyalists due to his previous association with Azmin Ali, a former PKR deputy president who had since defected to Bersatu.