The leader of the Federalists party and member of the Opposition Alliance, Tamar Chergoleishvili, has declared that there is no rift within the Opposition Alliance and that work is continuing as normal.
According to her, anyone who does not buy into the Opposition Alliance’s strategy and rules is automatically out.
Chergoleishvili stated that the United National Movement has failed to attend a single meeting for the past two months, is in breach of the rules, and is naturally now outside the alliance.
“As far as the Alliance is concerned, there is absolutely no infighting whatsoever. They had a briefing yesterday, they are preparing another one for Friday, and we are working away as usual, except the UNM aren’t there.
Ani Tsitlidze and her chief are walking around spinning the yarn that the UNM are still properly in the alliance and continue to work with us. For the past two months, they haven’t shown their faces at a single meeting. The only time they turned up was when we were organising the rally on May 26, and they were begging for a speaking slot. We didn’t kick the poor sods out because, frankly, we felt a bit sorry for them.
Do you know what’s actually going on inside the United National Movement itself, behind Misha’s back? They can no longer fathom what on earth Misha is doing. They’re sick to death of it themselves, but they are forced to chant these absurdities like a mantra. Even they can’t stomach the man anymore.
There can’t be a rift in the alliance because the rules strictly forbid infighting between members. Anyone who systematically and regularly breaks the rules and refuses to stop is naturally out. When I say the UNM are not in the alliance, I have cleared this with everyone else to say so, because that is the reality,” Tamar Chergoleishvili said during a Facebook Live stream.
Chergoleishvili added that she has no interest in what Mikheil Saakashvili says about her.
“People ask me, ‘Misha said this about you, what would you tell him? Misha said that, how would you respond?’ I have absolutely no desire to reply to Misha. We don’t give a toss about Misha. He has done so much, behaved so badly, that the only thing we want is for him to leave us alone. We don’t want anything else from him whatsoever. Just leave us be. Let him go and mind his own party.
Instead of asking me about what I’m actually achieving, my work, and what the public actually cares about, I get ‘Misha said this about you’ or queries about nonentities like Ani Tsitlidze. What have they got to do with anything? He called us losers; well, I suppose he’s talking to his own party, because my party certainly isn’t Misha’s. Let him look after his own lot. If he ever decides to come to his senses, behave respectably, abide by the rules he agreed to, and accept that he is just one of many, and not the only one, then whoever shares our rules and strategy can join the alliance.
The parties within the alliance, or at least we, the Federalists, are trying to change the regime in this country to establish the rule of law. We cannot possibly convince the rational citizens of Georgia that we are fighting for the rule of law if we tolerate some arrogant buffoon among us who declares himself above the rules and the law, and we fail to put him in his place.
He claims nothing will work without him; it will work faster, Misha, considerably faster. And it would have worked long ago had you not been such a destructive one, acting on an ‘all or nothing’ principle when the reality is you can’t have it all. I can still hear your screaming: ‘If I’m not there, let no stone be left standing!’ He ruined himself with this malice. He came fifth in Tbilisi. He knows better than anyone what it means to trail in fifth place in Tbilisi, which is why he is clinging onto the Ahali party. He wants to hoodwink people into thinking Ahali’s votes are his votes, pretending he didn’t crash and burn but was just treated unscrupulously by others.
We will steamroll these wreckers, unless they come to their senses. Of course, the alliance door remains open to anyone, be it Saakashvili, Gakharia, or Lelo, who decides to play by the rules.
Look at how desperate Khazaradze is. The opposition media is covering this non-existent rift in the alliance so aggressively, trying to show how awful the alliance is… meanwhile, Khazaradze is bankrupt and has fled the country. He’s completely scarpered and is waiting it out over there in a safe environment while so many people are in prison, all so he won’t face any competition. Do you remember when TV Pirveli lied about that convoy of cars? They want to do the same for Khazaradze, pretending he has no alternative,” Chergoleishvili concluded.
