The opposition Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) will be holding a “Crafty Government” protest at the Artificial Beach tonight, after two protests were cancelled over the weekend due to rain.
Deputy leader and spokesperson of DRP Ibrahim ‘Mavota’ Shareef said the protest will begin at 9pm.
“The objective of this gathering is to protest against the government for misleading and deceiving the people,’’ Shareef said.
The ‘Crafty Government’ protest tonight is sanctioned by the party’s council, unlike the ‘Government for Sale’ protest announced last week by Deputy Leaders Umar Naseer and Ahmed Ilham and MP Ahmed Mahrouf that last week led to speculation that the party was facing internal factional difficulties.
The issue was taken to the party’s council, which voted in favour of placing Umar Naseer before the party’s disciplinary committee. In a subsequent press conference, Naseer predicted this would lead to his dismissal from the party’s leadership.
Mahlouf and Ilham questioned at the time why they had not also been asked to appear before the disciplinary committee. Naseer’s rescheduled protest was to clash with the council-sanctioned protest on Saturday, but both were ultimately postponed because of the rain.
Shareef said today that Ilham, Naseer and Mahrouf would be allowed to join the protest.
“It is open to everyone, all our supporters can join,’’ he said.
Ilham told Minivan News today that all three would join the “Crafty Government” protest this evening.
“We fully support the event and we will be present there,’’ Ilham said. “But we might not be delivering a speech at the event as the microphones are reserved.’’
Miadhu meanwhile reported DRP leader Ahmed Thasmeen as accusing the ruling Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) of trying to split the ranks of the DRP.
“MDP is attempting to divide DRP’s leadership as the ruling party stands to benefit from a weakened opposition,” he claimed.
Umar Naseer meanwhile last week questioned Thasmeen’s “sincerity”, alleging that “some of our senior officials are known to be involved in secret deals with the government.’’
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