No UMNO leader from the state is expected to leave the party to join the Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR), said Johor UMNO Liaison head Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin.

Mohamed Khaled, who is also the Johor Menteri Besar, said he had not received any information on the matter and was confident that no leader would do it.

"What I know is that there is no one (doing so)...I have not received any information. Maybe in politics they like to exaggerate things and sometimes there is no such thing, but they (the Opposition) purposely want publicity and so on," he said.

Mohamed Khaled disclosed this to reporters after opening the 'Pusat Komuniti Sihat Perkasa Negara' (Kospen) Kampung Kuala Masai, here today.

Yesterday, Johor PKR exposed several more leaders in UMNO who were expected to join the party and the announcement on the matter would be made at the appropriate time.

Johor PKR chairman Hassan Karim was reported as saying in a local daily that the party was approaching several UMNO leaders to join the PKR.

According to Mohamed Khaled, he believed that UMNO leaders and members in the state were still holding strongly to the party principles although some of them might be disappointed or angry.

"The question now is that we need to look at the institution and not at the personalities because the institution must remain stable...people come and go for various reasons such as disappointment and so on," he said.

Referring to the action by former UMNO Supreme Council member, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah who is now with PKR, Mohamed Khaled, who was a former Higher Education Minister, said this was not a loss to UMNO.

According to Mohamed Khaled, he knew Saifuddin's personality well when he was a Deputy Education Minister and he was not surprised that the latter had left UMNO.