Kadima reshuffle not politically motivated, say MKs

Source had said MK Plesner was dismissed from role as deputy faction chairman by Livni as punishment for loyalty to Mofaz.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Livni Mofaz Knesset 311 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Livni Mofaz Knesset 311
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Kadima MKs denied rumors that party leader Tzipi Livni used a mid-term job shuffling within the party to punish MKs that she sees as less loyal.
A source said on Monday that MK Yohanan Plesner was dismissed from his role as deputy faction chairman because he was perceived as getting closer to Livni’s rival Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee chairman Shaul Mofaz after compiling a report for the committee on the consequences of the PA’s statehood bid.
The source also said that MK Nachman Shai was likely to replace him. Shai and Plesner offered a different explanation of events.
“No one has been fired,” Shai said. “All the jobs in the faction were shuffled because there are fewer jobs than MKs, and this is the term’s midpoint.”
“I left the job of deputy faction chairman a month ago so I could become a full member of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee,” Plesner said.
“It’s nice that people want to spread rumors, but the chronology doesn’t make sense,” he added. “I started working on the report in May, and the job shuffling was in the beginning of August.”
Shai also said that a deputy for faction chairwoman Dalia Itzik has not been chosen yet, but he had heard that he is a candidate for the job.