SHAH ALAM • Former Umno vice-president Hishammuddin Hussein and deputy president of Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) Azmin Ali, along with their families, holidayed together in Morocco, setting tongues wagging back home on a potential political alliance.

A picture of the two politicians with their hands in a tight clasp was posted on the Twitter account of Datuk Seri Azmin's son, Mr Ameer Azmin. Mr Ameer labelled the photo at a resort in Marrakesh, a holiday town in Morocco, with the intriguing caption "Our families reunited". The image was taken down later.

The holidaying entourage appeared to comprise 17 people and encompassed three generations from both families.

A video was also posted by Mr Ameer on his social media platform showing the two families settling down for a meal that included what looked like a lobster, while Datuk Seri Hishammuddin, 57, and Datuk Seri Azmin, 54, chatted. Both politicians wore aviator sunshades.

The video, which had the tag "Reunited after so long", was also deleted later.

The unusual meet-up in faraway north Africa between a senior member of opposition party Umno and a Cabinet minister from the ruling coalition comes at a time of shifting political alliances and defecting lawmakers in Malaysia.

Mr Hishammuddin was a Cabinet minister in the Najib Razak administration, with stints as home minister and defence minister.

Mr Hishammuddin and Mr Azmin were widely rumoured recently to be working to get MPs from their respective parties to back the continued prime ministership of Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

The holiday snaps also come on the heels of the open fallout between PKR president Anwar Ibrahim and Mr Azmin his deputy over key appointments in the party's supreme council and the state chairmanship.

PKR has the biggest number of MPs in the four-member Pakatan Harapan ruling alliance.

Mr Hishammuddin and Mr Azmin have known each other over their long years in politics, but taking a holiday together is seen as something else altogether.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK