The acrimony between Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia and PN MP Jason Azzopardi continues to reverberate, with Delia saying that Azzopardi has some soul-searching to do while the MP insists there is nothing wrong with his relationship with Delia.
This week Azzopardi posted a comment on his Facebook page, using football terms to criticise Labour exponents who are defending Delia, saying nobody would want to give advice to one’s opponents “unless they have a hidden agreement to safeguard their common interests”.
PN deputy leader Robert Arrigo was quick to reply that, when he was president of a football club, he praised his opponents but was always prepared to beat them in the next game.
On Thursday evening, Delia was more direct, saying on Net TV that if Azzopardi really thinks like that, he had some soul-searching to do and reflect whether his position within the PN is still tenable.
Azzopardi seems to have understood the implications of Delia’s words, telling Times of Malta this morning that he cannot understand the fuss about his post. The post, he claimed, was intended for Labour loyalists. Advice from opponents is worthless, he said.
Whatever the intention, Azzopardi’s cryptic post added fuel to the already raging fire within the PN, and his explanation this morning is not totally convincing, given also what the PN’s chief political coordinator Jean Pierre Debono said on Indepth on Thursday.
Debono said “gossiping” Mps should either put up or shut up and that their place is not in the PN. “If there are people in the parliamentary group (carrying out attacks on Delia) my message is clear: put up or shut up”.