He made the announcement at the launching of the Barisan Nasional election machinery in Sepanggar, Kota Kinabalu.

“We have entrusted full autonomy to Sabah Umno. I am confident that under (state chairman) Bung Moktar Radin’s leadership, he will engage local parties and also maintain communication with us in Putrajaya,” Zahid said, according to the Borneo Post.

Zahid, who is BN chairman and deputy prime minister, said grand coalitions for the elections were necessary as no one party was capable of forming the state government on its own.

He said BN remained open to discussions with any party for the state polls, not just ruling coalition Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS).

Zahid again rejected slogans such as “Sabah for Sabahans”, saying such regionalistic sentiments should not be stirred up when the nation was “founded on the spirit of the federation of Malaysia”.

Last week, the secretariat of the unity government coalition announced that Pakatan Harapan and BN had agreed to join forces for the state polls, following a meeting of their respective chairmen, Anwar Ibrahim and Zahid.

It said discussions on the form of cooperation would be handled by the state parties but “all decisions will be finalised by the top leaderships” at the national level.

Bung later said the state chapter still retained some autonomy, namely in deciding on technical and strategic matters like the selection of election candidates.