Badr lawmaker says Maliki ‘deserved’ failure of his ministerial nominees:

BAGHDAD — A Badr Organization bloc lawmaker delivered a pointed rebuke to State of Law Coalition leader Nouri al-Maliki on Monday, saying he “deserved” the failure of his ministerial nominees in the cabinet confidence vote because “he does not know his people.”

“Mr. Maliki deserves everything that happened to him regarding the failure to pass his ministers and everything else, because he does not know his people,” Abu Turab al-Tamimi said in a televised interview on Al-Rasheed TV. “I tell him, excuse us, Hajji, because he does not listen to anyone and sees us as small in politics.”

Tamimi said Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi had personally chosen Qasim Atta for interior minister but that “political agreements obstructed his passage,” and that the Badr Organization itself “did not receive its entitlement according to the points system.” Maliki’s nominees for both the higher education and interior ministries failed to secure parliamentary approval.

Despite the criticism, Tamimi praised Badr Organization leader Hadi al-Amiri for holding the Coordination Framework together. “Without him, the framework would have been torn apart,” he said. “He played a major role in bringing viewpoints closer because every day one of them would become upset, and partisan interests have begun to outweigh national positions.”

Parliament approved 14 ministers earlier this month but rejected nominees for planning, culture, construction and housing, higher education and interior. Voting on defense, labor, migration and youth and sports ministries was postponed, with negotiations over the incomplete cabinet ongoing.