May 27, 2008, 11:18 GMT
Tehran - In the summer of 2005 Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani enjoyed the best of relations.
Larijani was the president's right hand man as secretary of the National Security Council, and dealt with the diplomatic challenges posed by Iran's controversial nuclear programmes.
For the ruling conservatives they were a dream couple. But the relationship did not last for long.
'What the academic Larijani achieved in painstaking (nuclear) talks with (European Union foreign policy chief Javier) Solana, Ahmadinejad ruined with one single populistic remark,' a Western diplomat in Tehran said.
With phrases such as 'UN resolutions are just a torn piece of paper,' anti-Israeli tirades and questioning the Holocaust, the president turned Larijani's missions abroad into a labour of Sisyphus.
By October 2005 Larijani, 50, had had enough and quit.
The resignation of the close ally of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei triggered a wave of criticism of the president from both within parliament and the government.
'The man is simply unpredictable,' said former finance minister Davoud Danesh-Jafari about the president.
Danesh-Jafari is one of seven ministers who have quit the Ahmadinejad cabinet, together with the vice president for planning and budget and the Central Bank governor.
Several deputies have also distanced themselves from the president.
Before the parliamentary elections in March this year, a new group was formed within the conservative faction which, unlike the reformists led by former president Mohammad Khatami, was loyal to the system but like Khatami highly critical of Ahmadinejad.
With his landslide victory in the elections, Larijani became the leader of the new faction.
Just after the elections, the new group claimed victory and eventually demanded the speaker post for Larijani. But the pro- Ahmadinejad faction headed by former speaker Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel laid similar claims.
The two men met head-on in an internal vote before the inauguration of the new legislative term. The outcome: 75 per cent of the deputies present backed Larijani and outed themselves as sympathizers of the new group.
Hadad-Adel, a close ally and advisor of Ahmadinejad, had to acknowledge defeat and drop his lobbying for the speaker post.
'Ideologically I have no differences with Ahmadinejad, but we have indeed differences in style, approach and management,' Larijani said.
Analysts believe that although Larijani and his new faction will stick to Ahmadinejad's policies - including the nuclear programme - they will force the president to adopt a less populistic approach.
There is also speculation that Larijani will challenge Ahmadindejad in the presidential elections scheduled for June 2009.
'Although the power struggle between the two will remain in abeyance until next year, the time between will have a strong impact on the presidential election process,' a female Iranian journalist said.
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