The rivalry between North Sumatra gubernatorial candidates Bobby Nasution and Edy Rahmayadi has intensified in recent days, with both politicians exchanging taunts on the campaign trail.

One of the latest incidents occurred on Tuesday, when Edy was delivering a speech to members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the province’s South Labuhanbatu regency. The nationalist party is backing the former governor’s reelection bid.

In his speech, the former North Sumatra governor said the PDI-P had raised “a tiger cub” when it had Bobby as a member. 

“The PDI-P had been raising Bobby. The PDI-P was taking care of a tiger cub that eventually mauled its caretaker,” Edy said on Tuesday, as quoted by kompas.com.

As a party member, Bobby ran in the Medan mayoral election in 2020 on the PDI-P’s ticket and won. He was dismissed from the party in November 2023, after he declared his support for then-presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is Bobby’s brother-in-law. Prabowo and Gibran won the election, beating the PDI-P’s candidate pair, Ganjar Pranowo and Mahfud MD.

Edy also brought up the private jet trips taken by Bobby and his wife Kahiyang Ayu, the only daughter of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

“He used other people’s jet [...] and the news got everywhere,” Edy said, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

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