The apostasy remembered by Antonis and magic number 10 desired by Dora

After the withdrawals of Mr Avgenakis and Mr Kontogiannis the question on everyone’s mind at the ND offices is «Who’s next?»  
 
Rigillis is ascribing the withdrawals to a destabilization plan and denounces them as a «new apostasy», connecting them to Mr Konstantinos Mitsotakis’ past and Dora Bakogianni’s new party.  
 
«They are trying to stop the rise of N.D, and offer a helping hand to the Government, which is ridden by internal conflict and the deadlock of their economic policy». N.D .members seem determined to stop the political bleed-out and «not allow Ms Bakogianni to submit them to Chinese torture».  
 
There are four withdrawn congressmen at this point, all related to Ms Bakogianni, along with Mr Christos Markogiannakis and Kostas Kiltidis.  
 
The question is whether there are five other congressmen in order for Ms Bakogianni to appear as head of a parliamentary party with all the accompanying privileges.  
 
Officially, Rigillis maintains that there are no more MPs thinking of defection although they are watching Mrs Elsa Papadimitriou’s movements because of her personal relationship with Ms Bakogianni.  
 

At ND offices however, there was talk about Mr Kragounis, the young congressman from Aitoloakarnania and his father attending the founding ceremony of the Democratic Alliance.  
 
“She won’t find them…”
 
A high-ranking member predicted that there will be more withdrawals but reckoned that Ms Bakogianni will not gather the 10 MPs she needs.  
 
In any case, these withdrawals create a climate of introversion that wears N.D. out 2 weeks after the elections and just before the state budget fight, while critical changes in the leadership team are still pending.   
 
In this context, Mr. Samaras assembles the parliamentary group on Friday at 12pm. The meetings will not be limited, as in the past, to the president’s speech but party MPs will take their turn.  
 
Mr. Samaras will summarize the findings of the recent elections and provide the framework of his strategy. He will restate that ND persists in the strategy against the Memorandum, which was vindicated by the elections.  
 
He will also argue that the consensus proposed by the Prime Minister is not an end in itself. He will certainly attend the meeting with Mr. George Papandreou, without negotiating his positions against the Memorandum.
 
However, the debate of the parliamentary group will revolve around the withdrawals of Mr Avgenakis and Mr Kontogiannis. Mr Samaras will ask from all the MPs in direct contact with Ms Bakogianni to come forth in order to stop the political bleed-out. Other members who will take the stand, will move along the same lines.  
 
Through this debate, Mr Samaras aims to give a clear answer to the accusations of «restricted procedures and hegemonic behavior».  
 
He met today with Mr Thanassis Giannopoulos and Mr Simos Kedikoglou who were believed to be in good terms with Ms Bakogianni. After the meeting Mr Giannopoulos said «I am and will remain an ND member». Nevertheless, he added that the new defection as claimed by Rigillis «is imaginative nonsense» keeping his distance from the party’s leadership and staying close to Ms Bakogianni. It is rumored that he is asking for a transfer from Fthiotida, his electoral region, to Athens’ second sector.  
 
Mr Kedikoglou said that «I was and will remain in ND» avoiding to comment on the «new defection» issue.