• Alasania meets Ivanishvili;
• Republican Party officials meet Ivanishvili;;
• Subari declines to cooperate without his party;
• CDM leader slams Ivanishvili’s ‘dirty tricks’;
• New Rights leader: Ivanishvili’s political start ‘weak’ and ‘unsuccessful’

Irakli Alasania, leader of Our Georgia-Free Democrats Party (OGFD), met with a billionaire-turned-politician, Bidzina Ivanishvili, after the latter in his written statement on October 12 expressed willingness to cooperate with OGFD.

“It should be noted that there has been a full concurrence in opinions concerning all the issues discussed during the conversation,” OGFD said in a brief statement. “By the end of the meeting Alasania and Ivanishvili agreed to continue consultations in the near future to develop a concrete plan of partnership.”
 
Another party with which Ivanishvili expressed readiness to cooperate is Republican Party. Ivanishvili, however, also criticized it for “aggressive comments” made by some of the leaders of the party in address of Ivanishvili.

The Republican Party said that two of its officials, Davit Berdzenishvili and Paata Zakareishvili, met with Ivanishvili in Tbilisi on October 12 upon the billionaire’s initiative.

“Ground for launching political consultations between Bidzina Ivanishvili and the Republican Party,” the party said in the statement.

In a separate statement released before the meeting, the Republican party said that it was ready for “a consultations on broad range of domestic and foreign political issues, which may outline concrete patterns of cooperation.”

“What we have learnt from his statements in recent days is very important and worth of attention. There are issues on which we have different opinion, but [Ivanishvili’s] assessment of the existing situation and [his] vision of future are in overall acceptable for us,” the Republican Party said. “With its substance and style Mr. Ivanishvili’s October 12 letter is a new development in Georgia’s political life.”

Ivanishvili also called on ex-public defender and now chairman of the Georgian Party, Sozar Subari, for a cooperation; he, however, ruled out cooperation with the party itself, thus in fact offering Subari to quit his party, which was co-founded by ex-defense minister Irakli Okruashvili and ex-ambassador to Russia Erosi Kitsmarishvili.
 
Sozar Subari, however, actually declined the proposal. One-sentence written statement released by his party says: “The chairman of the Georgian Party, Sozar Subari, is ready to cooperate with Bidzina Ivanishvili on behalf of the Georgian Party."

MP Giorgi Targamadze, leader of Christian-Democratic Movement (CDM), whose party was accused by Ivanishvili of being “pseudo opposition”, said that the billionaire launched his political career with “dirty tricks” and “slander”.

Ivanishvili said that MP Targamadze’s political career “has numerous suspicious moments, ranging from his cooperation with Aslan Abashidze”, an ousted leader of the Adjara Autonomous Republic, “to betrayal of Badri Patarkatsishvili”, a late tycoon in whose television station, Imedi TV, Targamadze was an anchor and a key figure before it was closed down by the authorities.
 
“He preferred to gain his foothold in the Georgian politics with methods by a politician playing with dirty tricks; that is expressed in miserable slander, in absolutely unclear and inadequate assessment of a number of persons. Confronting various groups in the society… groundless labeling of people is not a new development in the Georgian politics,” MP Giorgi Targamadze said, adding that the same methods were used by President Saakashvili and his ruling party.

“I can only regret that one more important expectation [related with appearance of Ivanishvili in the Georgian politics] has evaporated and disappeared so quickly and shamefully.”

“As far as his concrete slander and allegations are concerned [in address of CDM], if I were Mr. Ivanishvili, I would refrain from mentioning Badri Patarkatsishvili’s name in any context, because it was just Mr. Ivanishvili, who was personally encouraging and financing Mikheil Saakashvili to fight against Badri Patarkatsishvili, to sink Imedi TV and destroy Patarkatsishvili,” MP Giorgi Targamadze said.

Leader of the New Rights Party, Davit Gamkrelidze, who was also slammed by Ivanishvili as “pseudo opposition”, said that choosing “confrontational” stance was not the best way of launching the political career. 

“Our position really coincided, as we have never stated that we are willing to cooperate with Mr. Ivanishvili and with anyone else. I think his political start was very weak and quite unsuccessful. Instead of positioning himself as unifying force and a conciliator to help consolidate the society, he brought a serious confrontational charge,” Davit Gamkrelidze said. “I think this is a syndrome of a closed person; it seems that he lives a closed life and failed to figure out what the society needs and what the society’s order today is.”