The newly-elected Nationalist leader pledged to reach out to those who threw their weight behind another candidate in the leadership race.
Addressing a political discussion on the Granaries this evening, Adrian Delia also promised to reach out to those who did not even bother to vote in last Saturday’s election, in a bid to reunite the party.
The activity was part of the PN’s annual Independence celebrations.
Dr Delia criticised Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for being absent from official State celebrations marking Independence Day for yet another year due to commitments abroad. Dr Muscat is in New York for the United Nations, Security Council meeting. Such attitude from the Prime Minister did not bode well for national unity, he said.
Former PN MP Richard Muscat yesterday questioned Dr Delia on his plans to deal with the backlash which the party could face from those who had vouched to leave in the wake of his election as leader.
“In the coming days, weeks and months, I will be meeting all those PN members who did not bother to vote in an attempt to reach out to them and reunite the party,” he said.
In a reconciliatory tone, he noted that he had already met shadow environment minister Karol Aquilina to discuss issues related to waste management and the government’s offer to sit on a technical committee.
Dr Aquilina, who had backed Gozitan MP Chris Said for party leadership, had fuelled controversy during the last few days of the campaign, saying there was no place for masons within the party. He also presides the Administrative Council which had urged Dr Delia to withdraw from the race in the wake of allegations levelled against him regarding money laundering from a London-based prostitution racket.
Referring to the government’s criticism that he had refused to nominate a member of a technical committee on waste management, the PN leader pointed out this was not the case and that he had been misinterpreted by the State broadcaster.
“The government has already taken decisions and this could be an attempt to use the Opposition to justify its decision. We will not fall into this trap, but if this will be an opportunity to keep the government under scrutiny we shall consider this invite,” Dr Delia said.
The PN leader also gave his reaction to the government’s plans to hive off Air Malta’s ground handling operations and transfer them to a new State company. Such a decision, he said, was illegal and in breach of industrial regulations. He did not elaborate further.