Anni may not stand by his word!

In my previous article here, I argued that it would be best if Anni stood aside and let a more charismatic and genuine leader come out of the “Inthigaalee” movement to compete for the presidency. I argued that as the winner of the MDP primaries, Anni could perhaps be the running mate of such a candidate. One of the readers commented that who else (other than Anni) has the mandate to contest the election. The reader argued that Anni has just won the primaries of the biggest opposition party and no one but he has the mandate to contest the presidential election. But our reader has forgotten one very important point. Anni contested the MDP-primaries on the platform that he would work with the alliance to find one single “Inthigaalee” candidate.

Many MDP members voted for him, trusting him to do just that. But the signs coming out of Anni’s camp in the aftermath of the landslide victory are very ominous. One source close to Anni said that Anni – when pushed about finding an “Inthigaalee” candidate – became enraged and said: “Kon Inthigaalee Eththa?”

The ex-foreign Minister, Dr. Shaheed, who is the spokesman for the alliance was reported by Haveeru Daily to have asked Anni to honor his statements about finding an “Inthigaalee” candidate. The fact that Dr.Shaheed had to make this request on a public forum instead of discussing it directly with Anni shows that there could very well be a breakdown of communication between Anni and the alliance. A source close to Anni has told me that they have video clips that could discredit Dr. Hassan Saeed and Umar Naseer and other alliance leaders. These video clips, claims this source, will be part of the propaganda campaign that Anni’s camp will initiate soon to discredit other alliance-leaders and make him the alliance-candidate.

Now there’s an sms circulating among many MDP members, apparently sent by Anni’s camp, directed towards the southerners, which says:
“Dhekunu Meehun Vathanee Vegen Kurevunee Kon Kameh. Dhen Ves Party Ga Thiben Beynumeeyaa Madun Thibey.”

It is unfair to say that the people of Addu were “Vathanee”, when Anni got a higher percentage of votes from Addu than Munavvar got from Male. It is also unfair to belittle the immense contributions made by the masses of Addu Atoll and other southern atolls in bringing MDP and the reform movement this far. There are wild elements within Anni’s camp that are blind to reality and believe every rosy word that Anni says. The fact of the matter is that Anni won the election based on his promise to put the “Inthigaalee” movement first. If he turns his back on that this wouldn’t of course be Anni’s first u-turn. If he goes on to become president, I bet this would be one of many u-turns that will come out of the rosy tongues of a leader who has an abundance of political cunning.

The onus is now with Anni to prove his detractors and doubters wrong. If he is a genuine reformist who doesn’t want to mislead the public he should dissociate himself from radical elements in his camp and come to a unifying platform and genuinely discuss the possibility of finding an “Inthigaalee” candidate from within the alliance. @