A fresh row broke out on Wednesday between PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos and his predecessor George Papandreou, with the latter claiming that there was an effort within his party from June 2011 to unseat him as prime minister.
“I was overthrown and people are fully aware of that,” Papandreou, who now leads the Movement of Democratic Socialists, told Skai TV. “A number of MPs from PASOK’s parliamentary group were constantly making statements and taking actions that undermined the prime minister.”
Papandreou also accused Venizelos of changing his stance on the ex-premier’s proposal for a referendum on Greece’s euro membership.
In an interview with Real FM, Venizelos hit back at his predecessor. “PASOK is carrying a heavy burden and along comes the man who was its president as well as prime minister and says: ‘Hello. I’m going to create another PASOK. You stay with PASOK, with its debts and with the burden of responsibility,’” said the deputy prime minister.
Venizelos also made reference to the ongoing investigation into the debts run up by PASOK during Papandreou’s leadership. “Whatever the justice system has asked for it has received,” he said, referring to audits of party finances carried out by five accounting firms.
The two men also took different stances on the post-election scenarios. Papandreou said he would be willing to work with SYRIZA “under certain conditions,” while Venizelos ruled out cooperating with the leftists unless other parties are involved.
Source: Kathimerini