PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has shot back at his deputy Mohamed Azmin Ali for openly protesting the new appointments to key party positions.

According to The Star Online, Anwar said these members were co-opted to create an inclusive leadership.

"I want to be inclusive... he wants some people out. I want everybody in... that's the difference," he said in his constituency of Port Dickson today.

Anwar also accused Azmin of bearing grudges against some of the appointees.

"I know he is very personal against one or two candidates. But I have taken everybody in, including people from his faction.

"The important thing is that you cannot deny the need to bring everybody in," he said.

The PKR president was a little less diplomatic on Twitter, making a snide remark against Azmin, the economic affairs minister.

If only some people focused more on growing the economy, and less on politicking... — Anwar Ibrahim (@anwaribrahim) December 29, 2018

Following the conclusion of the party election, the majority of four elected party vice-presidents and 20 elected central leadership council members were aligned to Azmin.

Clause 21.7 of the party constitution stipulated that the party president has to appoint a further three vice-presidents and seven leadership council members.

Anwar chaired the leadership council meeting yesterday to decide on these co-opted members.

It is understood that most of the council members aligned to Azmin were absent because they were on their year-end break.

Most notably, Anwar chose Rafizi Ramli as vice-president and gave Saifuddin Nasution Ismail a third term as secretary-general.

Some of Anwar's choices include those aligned to Azmin, most notably Ali Biju (vice-president) and Lee Khai Loon (MPP). The rest were largely aligned to Rafizi.

Earlier today, Azmin said these appointments did not constitute "fair and just representation," specifically singling out the appointment of the new secretary-general.

Saifuddin had previously bore the brunt of allegations that PKR's membership list was tainted, which was said to have affected the integrity of the party's leadership election which concluded in November.

Azmin had also suggested that some of the leadership council appointments were not based on merit and were instead "rewards."

RELATED REPORTS

Haniza: What Azmin said isn't personal, here's proof

Azmin upset over new PKR appointments