Of the two men, Najib appeared to favour Azmin and offered words of encouragement to the minister. — Picture by Firdaus Latif

KUALA LUMPUR, July 18 — Barisan Nasional adviser Datuk Seri Najib Razak mercilessly mocked the public hostilities that broke out between PKR’s top two leaders yesterday and invited the public to guess which will come out on top.

After PKR deputy president Datuk Seri Azmin Ali told Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to “look in the mirror” for suggesting the former resign over a sex scandal, Najib wrote on Facebook to point out that both politicians were the same.

However, he appeared to favour Azmin and offered words of encouragement to the minister.

“Min, steady, Min. The war drums have been sounded. Who will win is unclear. The only ones cheering could be Bersatu,” he said.

Najib also posted a photograph of a face mirror, in reference to Azmin’s retort for Anwar to self-reflect before telling him to relinquish his government position.

Yesterday, Azmin responded angrily to Anwar’s suggestion that the former resign over an ongoing sex video scandal by hinting at similar incidents from the latter’s past.

Previously, the economic affairs minister also called PKR information chief Datuk Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin a “hypocrite” for urging the former to take a leave of absence pending the resolution of the scandal.

The open exchanges have brought to fore the undercurrent of hostilities between the two main PKR factions that had previously been kept in check and away from public view.

Speculation that the sex scandal is part of PKR’s internal intrigues has grown with the police’s arrest of several party leaders on suspicion of distributing the clips allegedly featuring Azmin.

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that he considered the real crime in the scandal to be the conspiracy to “bring down Azmin.”