(September 19): Pakatan Rakyat is not a single entity which is why it has to submit more than one candidate for menteri besar to the state ruler, former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad said today.

However, he said he was able to submit only one name for Barisan Nasional as a registered coalition because no one disputed his decision.

"I chose (the menteri besar candidate) based on popular support and no one was unhappy, so it was not necessary to submit more than one name," said Dr Mahathir in response to the ongoing debate over the convention as to the number of names required for submission to the palace.

In the current Selangor menteri besar crisis, opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had said that BN had always given only one name to the ruler to appoint a menteri besar since 1957.

Dr Mahathir, too, had said it had been the norm while he was prime minister to recommend only one name to the ruler.

Yesterday, however, the Selangor palace issued a second reprimand to PKR over the number of names submitted to replace Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim as menteri besar.