“Mdinaradze’s resignation is a prelude to Kobakhidze’s final removal, a kind of announcement and nothing more. Essentially, the target of his resignation is Kobakhidze - he is like a child left home alone, who can only make a mess by himself, while no one will allow him to actually accomplish anything. Bidzina will not leave him home alone for long,” political analyst Gia Khukhashvili said, assessing Mamuka Mdinaradze’s decision to resign as Regional Development Minister and leave politics.

Gia Khukhashvili believes that Mdinaradze’s resignation is a logical continuation of the ongoing processes and that his “odyssey” through various positions was actually connected to Irakli Kobakhidze and the process of neutralizing and isolating him.

“This is a logical continuation of the processes that are underway. In principle, Mdinaradze himself is less interesting because his final episodes had a rather comic character, and it was clear how his story would end. But the main question concerns Kobakhidze. Whose prime minister is Kobakhidze?! The only subordinate he had was Mdinaradze; there is no one else in the government who is subordinate to him. He is, in a sense, a child left home alone who can only make a mess by himself, while no one will allow him to actually accomplish anything. Accordingly, Mdinaradze’s resignation is a prelude to Kobakhidze’s final downfall, a kind of announcement and nothing more. Mdinaradze himself represented nothing, and essentially, the target of his resignation is Kobakhidze. Bidzina will not leave him home alone for long.

“Kobakhidze has long been prepared for removal anyway. I use the term ‘removal’ because that is characteristic of Bidzina’s approach. He has been left home alone because the government is technical; no one in the government has been subordinate to him or obeyed him for a long time. It is a technical government, and the political component is no longer there.

“I am not predicting that this will happen tomorrow or the day after, because Bidzina Ivanishvili will naturally need to saddle him with the sins that have accumulated recently and send him away together with those sins. He needs to get some kind of bonus from his departure, and when he makes that decision is a separate matter. But there is no doubt that Kobakhidze has been left home alone. If you look at the composition of the government, it is not difficult to understand this.

“I doubt that Mdinaradze had any influence in the SSS or that he actually controlled the SSS. That was not the case. He left the SSS without, I think, even knowing to this day what kind of organization it is. Accordingly, I believe he made the kind of decisions there that probably created considerable tension within the system, given that career SSS employees work for years to earn their next star, while he became a major general within two weeks. It is clear what was happening there.

“After leaving the SSS, he essentially held nominal positions, was left in limbo, and was tossed around in limbo for a long time. In reality, Mdinaradze’s entire history, his odyssey, was connected to Kobakhidze, and the process of neutralizing Kobakhidze was underway - isolating him. Today, we essentially have a situation where Kobakhidze controls nothing. The only person who could speak to him within the government was Mdinaradze, who remained. Accordingly, he is now a child left home alone, who still has the matches in his hand, but I doubt anyone will actually give him the opportunity to start a fire. Mdinaradze’s resignation means nothing; it is a prelude to Kobakhidze’s removal,” Khukhashvili said.

For reference, Mamuka Mdinaradze, who most recently served as Regional Development Minister, announced at an emergency briefing held at the Government Administration that he was resigning from his position and leaving politics. According to Mdinaradze, his 10 years in politics had been 10 years of hard work, devotion to his homeland and working with friends to accomplish great things for the country. He also said that he had been considering leaving politics for the past several weeks.

Mdinaradze said today that he may try his hand at another field, including business. Asked about a possible return to politics, he said this could happen only in a situation of extreme necessity.

“I think I deserve some time to rest and take care of my family. My children have practically grown up without me. If the team really needs me and there is no other solution, I will return only in that case,” Mdinaradze said.