Updated 2.20pm

Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia complained on Saturday that he is being discriminated against by his own party’s radio station.

Delia accused NET FM of sidelining him as opposition leader in order to interview his leadership rival, Bernard Grech, on Saturday morning instead.

But that version of events was dismissed as a complete fabrication by Grech’s team and later by the PN's own electoral commission, which noted Delia had been allocated 45 minutes of airtime.

Delia's allegations

Traditionally, PN media broadcasts an interview with the party’s leader every Saturday morning, and earlier in the day Delia had told his Facebook followers that he would be speaking on NET FM at 11.30am.

But shortly before that interview was due to be aired, the party leader published a second Facebook post saying he had been shunted aside in favour of Grech.

“Lawyer Bernard Grech, who has not even been confirmed as a candidate yet, will be allowed to snatch the only weekly show I have as opposition leader,” Delia wrote.

“This is the old style of those who want absolute control of the PN,” he added.

Delia and Grech must both be assessed by a due diligence commission before their candidacies for an upcoming PN leadership race are set in stone, although the party has already said the commission will not be failing either candidate to ensure the election is not a one-horse race.

Grech's team dismisses claims

A spokesperson for Grech said this was a “lie”.

“Dr Delia was due to speak for 15 minutes as opposition leader between 10.45am and 11am, and then for 30 minutes as a candidate for the party leadership until 11.30am,” the spokesperson said. “He chose not to”.

The spokesperson said the schedule had been sent to both candidates ahead of time.  

PN electoral commission provides details

The PN's electoral commission, which is overseeing the leadership race process, confirmed the Grech camp's version of events in a statement later on Saturday. 

It said both Delia and Grech had been given a 30-minute time slot. Delia had asked for more time to speak as opposition leader, and the commission obliged on Friday night, giving him a further 15 minutes. 

"This very morning Dr Delia informed us that he was not going to accept these 15 minutes. He subsequently insisted on speaking at 11.30am, as opposition leader. The Electoral Commission could not accept this position," it said in a statement signed by commission chairman Peter Fenech. 

The commission noted that candidates had been given media schedules for this week on September 3. While Delia was due to speak first this week, this would alternate the following week, when Grech would go first.  

Delia opts for Facebook

With his radio appearance cancelled, Delia instead opted to run a Facebook live broadcast on his page.

“This is unheard of,” Delia said in a 13-minute broadcast in which he also touched on the party’s preparations for the upcoming Budget and attacked Times of Malta for running an editorial in which it criticised the language he used linking foreigners to crime.

“Let’s stop saying Maltese are racist because they are realising that our country is being taken over,” he said.

Speaking on NET FM, his rival Grech insisted that he remained an “outsider” in the party.

“I have the good fortune of not belonging to any faction that has been mentioned,” Grech said, pushing back at Delia’s accusation that he is a Trojan horse for the PN’s old guard.

Grech said that his outsider status could help him build bridges within the party and insisted that disagreements between members “should be based on opinions, not individuals”.