PAS continues to be a punching bag for Parti Amanah Negara (Amanah) in the Sungai Besar parliamentary by-election campaign.

Amanah communication director Khalid Abdul Samad, at a ceramah last night, belittled PAS, saying that the party (PAS)could not win in the by-election.

He said PAS talked about defeating Barisan Nasional (BN) only with spirit, but without knowledge, and it was because of this Amanah was formed.

"PAS cannot win on its own. So, we form Amanah, get together with DAP and PKR and form Pakatan Harapan," he said to a crowd of less than 100 people.

He said PAS had intended to contest in the Sungai Besar by-election soon after the seat became vacant.

Following which, he said, Pakatan Harapan, particularly PKR, negotiated with PAS to decide on the candidate for the seat so that the contest would be a straight fight with BN.

"Then we waited, it seemed that PAS did not want to negotiate. PKR wanted to negotiate further, but we said it was enough," he added.

Meanwhile, Amanah president Mohamad Sabu reiterated that during his 38 years with PAS and campaigned for the party, he had never won in an election until he joined the Alternative Front, which later became Pakatan Rakyat, in the 2008 general election.

Now PAS is alone again with Pakatan Rakyat having been dissolved and not joining Pakatan Harapan, he added.

Amanah secretary-general Anuar Tahir claimed that PAS had no desire to win in both the Sungai Besar and Kuala Kangsar by-elections, but only to increase the number of votes from what the party received in the last general election.

PAS is contesting for both seats also because it wants to give way for the BN candidate to win, he added.