UNM’s Ana Tsitlidze challenges Nika Gvaramia: Name the person who mediated you to Gilauri; revealing them could boomerang back on you

“Gvaramia posted an ‘excuse of a statement’ regarding Gilauri and the 40 million. He built his entire strategy around the premise that the Girchi faction met Bidzina [Ivanishvili] and plotted this campaign there. That tactic will not fly,” United National Movement (UNM) member Ana Tsitlidze posted on social media.

Tsitlidze asserted that Nika Gvaramia knows full well why she took issue with him as far back as the 2024 pre-election period.

“He knows perfectly well why he had a problem with me back in the lead-up to the 2024 elections, and why he ‘pulled’ Khabe [Khabeishvili] and me off air. My public interviews, positions, and posts about Gilauri were already out there long before Girchi even mentioned him, and back when I was the one being silenced.

But right now, something else interests me. Gvaramia claims the individual who mediated him to Gilauri remains in the United National Movement to this day. Well, Nika, if you are making this public, name that person. Who is the individual who took you to Gilauri? If you are not lying, you ought to have the courage to say it.

I know who you mean. And I also know why naming this person could boomerang back on you severely; it could bring many things to light that it certainly suits you never to discuss, now or ever.

But since you brought this matter into the public sphere yourself, the responsibility rests on you. Name the person who, by your account, led you to Gilauri (from the UNM). If you fail to name them, it means one of two things: either you are lying, or you are afraid to name them. Either way, you look exceedingly weak. I am waiting for you, Nika. Name them, or I will put the question to you publicly myself.

P.S. Why Mtavari Arkhi went off air is a separate matter for public reckoning,” wrote Ana Tsitlidze.

The exchange follows a social media post by Nika Gvaramia, co-leader of the Ahali party, in which he claimed: “Saakashvili was himself one of the key figures backing Gilauri’s entry onto the political field: sending mutual friends and writing letters. Those sent by Saakashvili include friends of mine, and we met with Gilauri together. I doubt they can deny this. Fresh out of prison, I would not have thought of Gilauri on my own… I met Gilauri on his own initiative, brokered by a UNM member who was his most trusted figure at the time.”