VP pledges support to govt formed with 'people's hard work'

At a time when president Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom has left the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and started the process of forming a new party, Vice President Hussain Mohamed Latheef has pledged to stand with President Mohamed Muizzu.

A steering committee allegedly formed by Yameen to run the PPM held a press conference on Tuesday night to announce that it had taken over the running of the party.

Yameen has now resigned from his own party and has begun the process of forming a new party. His senior lawyer, Dr Mohamed Jameel, said the reason for this was that the party's top brass did not want to run the party's activities and that they did not even need Yameen's advice and advice now.

Yameen's supporters say that after coming to power on the People's National Congress (PNC) ticket, President Muizzu isolated Yameen and his loyalists.

Many senior PPM-PNC leaders have now come out in support of President Muizzu on social media. They include some who have held positions in this government. Muizzu's supporters are also using the hashtag "StandWithMuizzu" on social media.

"This government was brought about by the participation and hard work of many people including myself. This is the result of our people's tireless efforts. The people chose the vision of President Dr Muizzu," the Vice President said in a post.

He added that President Muizzu puts the interests of the people first and assures that he will stand with the President to make this government a beneficial and profitable government for the people.

It is noteworthy that members of President Muizzu's cabinet also came out on Friday evening to defend him and expressed their support for him.

While his supporters have come out in defence of Muizzu, Yameen's supporters are now criticising Muizzu’s supporters, saying they have never been well-wishers of PPM-PNC at any time.