PKR vice-president Tian Chua has accused his fellow party vice-president Rafizi Ramli of engineering a by-election for Anwar Ibrahim in secret.

"A while ago you talked endlessly about openness, transparency and the truth. But now it is perfectly okay for you to claim a selected few can secretly make major decisions for the party without consulting others in the leadership.

"Is this a democratic party or a secret society?" asked Chua on his Twitter account today.

On Friday, Rafizi told a ceramah in Kota Bharu, Kelantan that a PKR MP would be stepping down this week to pave way for a by-election meant to facilitate Anwar's return to Parliament.

Following this, Chua had criticised Rafizi for making such a claim as the matter had not been discussed by the party leadership.

Last night, Rafizi told reporters in Kuantan, Pahang that certain "important decisions were not discussed with everyone and would only be done with several people among us" prompting the retort from Chua today.

Chua also reminded his Twitter followers that Rafizi had once accused Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad of making unilateral decisions.

"Isn't that the same guy who criticised the PM for making unilateral decisions on cabinet appointments and policies without consulting the Pakatan Harapan leadership?" tweeted Chua.

This was in reference to Rafizi's statement following Mahathir's decision to appoint Amanah president Mohamad Sabu and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng as defence and finance ministers respectively.

At the time, Rafizi accused Mahathir of "bulldozing" the cabinet appointments.

Talks on an engineered by-election for Anwar comes at a time when Rafizi and his running mates are engaged in an aggressive campaign to convince party members that they should be allowed to take over the party leadership.

Rafizi, who is vying for the PKR deputy presidency, has been touring the country ahead of the PKR national leadership elections which will begin on Sept 22.