Close allies to Wiper Leader Kalonzo Musyoka and his Fork Kenya counterpart Moses Wetangula have caused tension in the National Super Alliance (NASA) after making fresh comments that sought to dismiss ODM leader Raila Odinga's presidential candidature.
MPs Charles Nyamai (Kitui Rural) and Makali Mulu (Kitui Central) who are key allies of Musyoka, claimed that a new poll showing Odinga as the best candidate in NASA was manipulated by the Jubilee government.
“From face value, these figures do not add up. The huge disparity between Odinga and Musyoka’s ratings contradict the findings per region,” Makali stated.
Nyamai, on his part, said the findings were “deliberately cooked” to hand over the presidential ticket to Odinga and blackmail and intimidate the other principals into giving up their bids.
“We read a lot of political mischief in this poll because it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground and every NASA supporter knows an Odinga-led ticket cannot deliver victory for the Opposition,” Nyamai claimed.
The comments came as Kakamega Senator Boni Khalwale, speaking at a separate event, dismissed poll, announced by Infotrak as "lies".
Khalwale warned that the polls would not be put into consideration by the NASA coordinating committee that is in the final stages of agreeing on the method of picking coalition's presidential flagbearer.
On Saturday, Infotrak released a survey indicating Odinga enjoyed a 68.3 per cent rating to emerge as the most preferred NASA flagbearer for the August 8 polls.
Musyoka came second at 13.1 percent while his Amani National Congress (ANC) counterpart Musalia Mudavadi got a 12.3 percent rating.
Wetang’ula was ranked last with 2.2 percent.