President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom Wednesday berated the "traitorous" efforts to sway the government majority in parliament insisting that he would not allow such treachery in the country.
Speaking during a ceremony to welcome over 600 new members to the now divided ruling party, president Yameen pointed out that the most greatest challenge for a president was to deal with divisions within the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) parliamentary group.
President Yameen was indirectly referring to his half brother ousted PPM leader Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's efforts to rally government lawmakers to his side.
The repercussions of such actions would only be felt by the people, president stressed.
As an example, president noted that the government had only been able to pass the state budget which had included the interests of every constituency in the state budget each year since he took office because the government has parliament majority, despite opposition lawmakers refusing to back the state budget.
"If the budget fails to pass the parliament what would we do? The president would continue to rule won't he? But the projects would stop. That's why I'm saying that the effort to deny the government parliament majority is directly linked to causing harm to the people. Because it would definitely not cause me any grief," president explained.
The two Gayooms in a political wrangle for ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) control had split the party in two and the spat reached a bitter end after the younger Gayoom was handed the PM reins by a court order which was later backed by the appellate courts.
The elder Gayoom has since intensified a push to rally support to his faction and has successfully managed to even further isolate the government from key political opponents.
Gayoom however suffered a major to his ongoing efforts to put pressure on the government earlier Wednesday after two more lawmakers switched support to his half brother.
Eight lawmakers, late last month led by Gayoom's lawmaker son Faaris Maumoon had held a press conference declaring the faction "Gayoom's parliamentary group."
A day later a few lawmakers had seemingly backtracked on their decision to back the elder Gayoom. after pictured with top members of president Yameen's faction.
But two lawmakers, including outspoken Eydhafushi MP Ahmed Saleem publicly announced the withdrawal of their support for the elder Gayoom.
Saleem told reporters that he had been forced to yield to public pressure, pleading him to back president Yameen.
Baarah MP Ibrahim Shujau echoed Saleem's sentiments by adding that he had received assurances that the president would address the concerns he had over the government.
Welcoming the two lawmakers back to his side, president revealed that the duo had backtracked on their support after leafing through the proposed budget for next year.
