TEHRAN (AFP) — Hardline Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has come under fire from parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a fellow conservative who stood against him when he was first elected in 2005.
Larijani criticised the government’s expansionist economic policy and Ahmadinejad personally for challenging two pieces of legislation passed by parliament, the ISNA news agency reported on Friday.
“If we want to stand up to our enemies, we need to improve the economy,” the news agency quoted Larijani as saying in a speech in the Tehran satellite town of Karaj.
“Iran has big oil and gas reserves — the way to use that wealth is not by handing out money to people but by using it to develop the nation’s productive capacity,” he said.
“Social justice… means providing universal employment not giving monthly handouts to stop people starving,” he added in allusion to a government plan to phase out state subsidies on staple foods and replace them with cash benefits to the needy.
Larijani took particular issue with the president’s decision to ask Iran’s constitutional watchdog to throw out two measures adopted by parliament.
“How can you ask an ordinary villager to respect the law, if politicians don’t?” he asked.
“We in parliament will not allow anybody… to disregard the law because that’s an act of rebellion and a shameful violation,” he said.