Kakha Kaladze, the secretary general of the ruling Georgian Dream party and Tbilisi mayor, told the media on Monday that he welcomed an alleged return of former interior minister Vano Merabishvili to politics as it would be “only good” for his party.  

"I welcome the appearance of Merabishvili. This is a great gift for the ruling team. People like Merabishvili and Khabeishvili [newly elected chair of the United National Movement opposition party] are only good for us. Any party could only dream about the opposition like this”, Kaladze said. 

Merabishvili, one of the influential figures of the UNM government, left prison in 2020. 

Nika Melia, a former chair of the UNM, last month accused him and former defence minister David Kezerashvili of involvement in the party’s internal issues “from the backstage”.