Salvu Mallia will not call Helena Dalli a 'bitch' again, but reserves his right to criticise the Minister

The ever-controversial Nationalist Party candidate Salvu Mallia yesterday promised to never again call Minister Helena Dalli a ‘bitch’ after he was called out on Friday evening by the Minister’s husband, Patrick Dalli.

Mr Mallia had used the derogatory term when he shared a story, by The Malta Independent on Facebook that revealed that Dr Dalli’s youngest son, Jean-Marc, had also been put on the public payroll, following placements for his older brother Luke and his fiancée.

Visibly irritated by the comments, Mr Dalli publicly challenged the Nationalist Party candidate to a confrontation in Valletta.

Mr Mallia quickly responded, accepting the challenge and, ac- cording to what they wrote on Facebook, they were to meet in Valletta.

The face-to-face confrontation was initially to take place yesterday, but the two men could not agree on a time that was convenient to them both. As a result, the meeting has now been postponed until next week.

Later on Mr Dalli reacted to comments that his wife had forced him to meet Mr Mallia to defend her, saying: “As if my wife needed me to defend her! She did not even take any notice of Mr Mallia. But I have the right to be irritated by comments like Mr Mallia’s and to request a meeting with him.”

Yesterday morning, Mr Mallia said he reserved the right to express his anger at the way in which Dr Dalli “continued to show how corrupt this government was by turning in it into a family enterprise.”

He said, however, that he was solemnly promising Mr Dalli that he would never again use that word with regard to the Minister, seeing that it had gone down so badly with Mr Dalli. He added that he was using a ‘ lawyeresque’ style in order to conform to the rhetoric to which we have become accustomed after the passing of Dom Mintoff.

Mr Mallia has been at the centre of controversy ever since he was accepted as a PN candidate, with leader Simon Busuttil up to now defending his behaviour despite calls for the PN to distance itself from him.