There is no love lost between Nationalist Party MPs Adrian Delia and Jason Azzopardi, and on Tuesday a war of words between the two men rumbled on through social media.

Delia, who lost a leadership race three days ago and now sits on the PN backbench, accused Azzopardi of trying to stir up trouble over comments Prime Minister Robert Abela made on Monday.

Abela had said that new PN leader Bernard Grech would have to win a general election if he wanted to be invited into the Auberge de Castille, which serves as the Office of the Prime Minister.  That prompted Azzopardi to note that Abela had had no issue with inviting Grech’s predecessor, Delia, to meetings there in the past.

“Question: can you explain why the difference now?” Azzopardi asked rhetorically. “Well, there is no need to do so. We know why.”

Azzopardi was one of the biggest critics of Delia’s leadership of the PN and had in the past suggested that Delia was a "Trojan horse" for the PN’s rival Labour Party.

Delia intended to kick Azzopardi out of the party if he won the leadership race. That did not happen, and new leader Grech has urged rival factions within the party to come together as “one team”.

But bad blood between Delia and Azzopardi shows no sign of subsiding.

On Tuesday afternoon, as Grech was being sworn in as an MP, his predecessor replied to Azzopardi’s earlier musings about Abela’s meetings at Castille by calling the MP a liar.

“The damage you continue to do to the PN is evident to all,” Delia wrote of Azzopardi. “Stop making things up, stop lying.”

Delia suggested that Azzopardi was out to drive a wedge between himself and his successor as party leader, writing that “if you think you’re going to pit me against our leader Bernard Grech, you are mistaken”.