Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia said today that he is still to accept the resignations submitted by one of the party deputy leaders, Robert Arrigo, and secretary general Clyde Puli.

Speaking on the party media, Delia said that the two gave their reasons for deciding to resign, but both have one common thread – that they were unable to fulfil their duties properly because of the resistance they found in their work.

Arrigo went as far as saying that there was a “tsunami” against him as party leader, Delia said, which shows the difficulties that the leadership faced for the past 30 months from a group of people who believe that they have some right of the party.

He said that there needs to be party unity behind the leader, and that the leader – whoever he is – should not need to have to deal with spokes in the wheels put there by people who are supposedly on his side.

He reiterated his position that he was elected to be PN leader by the party members, and that he believes in their contribution towards the reform that the party is undergoing, one which will see changes to its structure as well as its media, while at the same time also face the financial challenges that the party has been facing for years.

He said he believed that a political party should be from bottom to top, meaning that the voice of the people is being given its due weight. It is the accumulated wisdom of the people that should drive a political party, as it is their needs and wishes that should be fulfilled. A political party has to reflect what society is saying, he said. A politician is there not only to enact laws but to be of service to the people he represents.

Replying to criticism that he is clinging on to his place as party leader because it provides him with the only income, Delia said that he does not get any remuneration from the party but only a wage as Opposition Leader, which is lower than what he used to earn as a private lawyer.

Delia again challenged the police to investigate him if they saw the need to go into reports on matters which date back 20 years. He said that when the reports first surfaced he had offered to give his version of what had taken place, but the police had never approached him.