'Predecessor took orders from...': Days after calling India ally, Maldives prez Mohamed Muizzu drops another bomb

Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has alleged in an interview that his predecessor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, was taking orders from a foreign ambassador. Muizzu neither named any country nor the diplomat. 

Days earlier, in his interview to news outlet Mihaaru, Muizzu called India the country's “closest ally” and that he has no intention of stopping any developmental project funded by New Delhi. “We have inherited huge loans from India. So we are discussing easy ways to repay the loans. Ongoing projects should also be accelerated instead of stopped. So I don’t see any weakening in [India-Maldives ties],” Muizzu is quoted as saying by Mihaaru. 

Muizzu made the new charge when he was asked about criticism from the opposition regarding the recent procurement of military drones during an interview. 

Ahead of the parliamentary elections, the main opposition, the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), has scaled up the attacks on Muizzu on various issues. 
Earlier in the month, it was announced that Maldives has, for the first time, acquired surveillance drones from Turkey for patrolling its vast exclusive economic zone and efforts have begun by the state to establish a drone base in Noonu atoll Maafaru to operate the military drones. 

Responding to the question about criticism about drones, President Muizzu noted that the main opposition MDP, when it held office from 2018-2023, also held a supermajority in the Parliament. However, the party failed to protect Maldives' independence, leaving it in the hands of a foreign country, Muizzu was quoted as saying by Sun.mv, a news portal. 

Muizzu further said that President Solih had operated on orders from a foreign ambassador, which resulted in extensive damage, according to the news portal. However, he did not specify which foreign country he was referring to, it said. We had lost independence in all senses of the word, including economically. After having done all this, they would naturally not accept our efforts to remedy all this and put the country on a track that the Maldivian people want, towards a Dhiveheenge Raajje', he said. 

Dhivehi Raajje in Dhivehi, the language of the people of Maldives, means Kingdom of the Dhivehi people.' The pro-Beijing president visited China in January and upon his return, indicated that the government was looking to acquire surveillance drones. 

Muizzu said that no value can be attached to the independence of Maldives, and that it is in fact priceless. The People's National Congress (PNC) administration accuses the former administration of getting overly dependent on India, while the MDP accuses the incumbent administration of ruining age-old ties with India and fostering closer ties with China, Sun.mv said.