A number of Adrian Delia’s supporters have decided to leave the PN, with two of them saying it had been taken over by “rebels”.

“I am not willing to offer more time and energy to a party I do not recognise any more,” Andre Grech, one of Delia’s main canvassers, said on Monday.

Ħamrun councillor and PN stalwart Louise Tedesco, a popular presenter on NET television, also resigned from all her positions within the party and severed her ties with the PN on the local council.

Grech has resigned as president of the PN’s SME forum. He said he had dedicated 20 years of his life towards the party and it was enough.

“Now that the rebels are running the party again, I felt that my time was up. The reason is obvious. It has been three years of lies, allegations, leaks to the media and hatred towards an individual. Politics I don’t condone.”

I followed him because I believed in his vision

He claimed the party was now “controlled by Repubblika and Civil Society Network” and he predicted more resignations would follow.

“The only interest of the rebels, with the help of the media, was to get rid of Adrian Delia. They didn’t even try to understand what would happen next,” he said.

Grech said if the leader had changed after the general election he would have stayed on and followed him, as he had always done, “but to me this is an unacceptable situation.

“I was always labelled a Delia loyalist but I followed him because I believed in his vision. Once he is no longer leader I’m not going to work with the rebels.”

Grech’s partner, Deborah Mifsud, has also quit the party and its executive committee, announcing she would remain on the Birkirkara local council as an independent.

She said the party had become “unrecognisable” because of the pique and constant bickering.

Two other councillors, Doriana Portelli in Birżebbuġa and Charmaine Aquilina in Marsa, are also resigning.