KUALA LUMPUR: When Bayan Baru MP Datuk Seri Zahrain Mohd Hashim quit PKR last month, Datuk Salehuddin Hashim was mysteriously by his side, and when Nibong Tebal MP Tan Tee Beng announced his quitting the party today, the former secretary-general was once again present.

Although Salehuddin denied being behind the resignations of Zahrain and Tan, his presence dominated the press conference.

"I'm not the director of strategy as I'm not that good at biting others. But I will continue to be present if invited," said Salehuddin. At this juncture, Tan jumped in to confirm that he had invited Salehuddin because "I needed his support".

However, Tan did not elaborate what he meant by "support".

During Zahrain's resignation too, Salehuddin said he was only present to give his "support to a friend". Whether Salehuddin was behind the resignations or not, he seemed confident that more would be quitting the party soon.

"I think there are (more planning to leave the party). Take away the socialists, the NGO liberals and the cronies and the remainder are the legislators who are thinking of leaving," he told reporters today.

"In politics, one is too many. If we run the party in an amateur way such as mocking those who want to leave the party, then the family will soon have nobody left," he added. Salehuddin alleged that many had been challenged to leave PKR.

"The remainder are those who really want to hijack the party. And they are like the thorns in the flesh which drown out the voices."

Hinting that there is a deep-rooted divide between some of the newer leaders and the original ones, Salehuddin claimed that the party activists since 1999 had been sidelined.

"There are those in the party now who are trying to teach us about human rights and democracy. But where were they in 1999?" he asked.

Asked when other MPs were quitting PKR, Salehuddin said: "Steady…like boxing, there are many rounds."

But the former corporate leader said he had no plans to rejoin politics.

"I left PKR long ago. Two weeks after quitting as secretary-general and wrapping up my work, I had resigned from the party," he said.

Salehuddin quit PKR in January following speculation about his rift with some party leaders, including Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

When asked if there were as many as 10 legislators waiting to quit PKR, Salehddin said: "I don't know. Maybe there are more than 10 but this is up to you to interpret."