MP Shifaq Mufeed (Histo), who recently defected from the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) and join Jumhoory Party (JP) has implied discontent over current PPM policies as his reason for leaving the party.

The Fuvahmulah-Central MP who has played an active role in PPM’s presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen’s campaign said that he first joined PPM because he believed in the policies of former president and current PPM President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, but said that the party’s policies have now changed.

“I don’t want to share my conversations with president Maumoon with the media at this point in time. President Maumoon has contributed greatly to the country. But right now, PPM is not being run according to president Maumoon’s policies,” MP Shifaq Mufeed said.

MP Shifaq was a member of Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) from 2005 until May 2012, when he left MDP after strongly criticizing party, saying that the MDP’s leadership was asleep and in a coma. He said that his shift from PPM to JP is very different from his move from MDP to PPM.

“You will all know that I have openly criticized MDP’s policies and worked strongly against MDP’s decisions because I did not agree with the party’s policies,” Shifaq said. “So, from the way this happened, you’ll all know that this change and that one, it is as different as the earth and sky.”

In answer to a question by Sun, JP presidential candidate and leader Gasim Ibrahim said that Shifaq left PPM over discontent for the current PPM leadership and that his reasons departure from PPM is quite clear.

“After giving it intelligent thought (the move from PPM to JP), what he’s saying is quite clear. The party now does not function to the policies of Maumoon, but to what he (PPM presidential candidate Abdulla Yameen) thinks best. Isn’t this his reason for leaving the party?” Gasim said. "Shifaq has clearly said this in his statements. We’re telling you this because when we heard it, we though it was pretty clear, very black-and-white.”

He said that Shifaq Mufeed is a capable individual and that his statements are not as shallow as the common man, but is spoken at a rather higher, “more educated level”.

“From what was said in the beginning, I thought the same at first. But it was quite clear after what he said later on, it all fits in. There is no room for doubt either. It’s not president Maumoon’s policies, but its being run to Yameen’s policies, after he became the presidential candidate. I think that’s what he’s saying,” Gasim said. “It is not me who is saying this, it is Shifaq.”