KUALA LUMPUR: Penang Umno has launched a bid to wrest control of the state's political machinery from its coalition partner Gerakan, reigniting an old tussle between the two partners.

Penang Umno chairman Ahmad Zahid Hamidi last week crossed swords with Gerakan president Koh Tsu Koon after he suggested that Umno take over the state's Barisan Nasional (BN) machinery.

It is currently headed by the Chinese-based Gerakan. But Gerakan had lost all its seats in Penang in the 2008 general election when the state fell to the opposition. Umno now holds all the BN seats there - 11 out of 40 state seats, and two parliamentary seats.

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