Ruling Progressive Party of the Maldives (PPM) Parliamentary Group Deputy Leader Riyaz Rasheed has challenged MDP, claiming that former President Mohamed Nasheed will never be able to return back to the Maldives.

Speaking in the ceremony held on Thursday night to open the new offices for the Party, Riyaz Rasheed said the team behind President Yameen was more than capable of barring Nasheed from returning to the Maldives.

                “We engineered the downfall of his rule, if he wants to come back, we’ll stop that, we have the power to that,” he said.

He made the statement in reference to the statement made by the former President that he intended to return back to the Maldives.

He also claimed that President Nasheed’s rule was more autocratic, firing back against the claims made by various foreign bodies who had expressed concerns over rising autocratic overtones by the current Government.

                “The reality is that MDP will never be able to come back to power,”

Riyaz Rasheed last night repeated PPM’s claims that President Yameen must be given a second tenure. He spoke on the work carried out by President Yameen to start PPM, saying that he was a witness to the work carried out. He added that the Party was President Yameen’s Party.

Riyaz said the biggest challenge to the Party at the start was the availability of funds, a concern that was addressed by President Yameen with hard work.

He noted President Yameen, current Deputy Leader Abdullah Abdu Raheem, Ali Areef and himself were among the members of the first Committee that spearheaded the formation of PPM. He said these members would testify to that.