FijiFirst Candidate Dr. Mahendra Reddy says the FijiFirst is like a soccer team where all players cannot be strikers.
He says they have two strikers and they are the Prime Minister, Voreqe Bainimarama and Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.
Speaking to about 150 people in a campaign meeting at Ahmadiyya Muslim College in Narere, Dr. Reddy says people like him are in the midfield, some are sweepers and this is how a team operates and not like SODELPA where everyone wants to be become strikers.
He claims that sometimes Ratu Naiqama Lalabalavu says his the leader of SODELPA, Ro Teimumu Kepa says she’s the leader and Mosese Bulitavu says his the leader of SODELPA.
Dr. Reddy says this is why they have a united team which is FijiFirst.
Dr. Reddy also spoke about issue where some people say Attorney General, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is only appointing Muslims to posts.
He then said that he was in the Board of the Reserve Bank of Fiji when Ariff Ali was appointed as the Deputy Governor of the Bank.
Dr. Reddy then said that neither the Prime Minister nor the Attorney General made the appointment and it was made by the Reserve Bank Board which he was part of.
Dr. Reddy says he knows who all had applied for the position and how capable Ariff Ali is.
He also shared the story when Sayed-Khaiyum had contacted him in 2008 and asked him to join the Commerce Commission of Fiji as Dr. Reddy was an economist.
Dr. Reddy says he was not a Muslim but still got appointed and they also had Dr. Azmat Gani at USP who had a Phd in Economics and Sayed-Khaiyum could have appointed Gani to the position if it was about the Muslim issue.
Dr. Reddy says Sayed-Khaiyum had appointed him because of the research he had undertaken.
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