The close alliance between Adrian Delia and Alex Borg turned bitter over the past week, with claims of betrayal flying as the two remain the only two contenders to officially declare their candidacy for the PN leadership. Several MPs and Nationalist insiders insist that the two candidates agreed over the weekend that only Delia would contest the election and that Borg would take a step back and endorse and support his campaign for leader. Several sources said the deal, brokered on Sunday, even specified that Borg would announce that he was not running for leader on Monday before Delia announces his candidacy later in the day. The two eventually agreed that Delia would announce his candidacy first and Borg would endorse Delia later, Times of Malta is informed. Sources insist that to Delia鈥檚 shock, the endorsement from Borg never came. Instead, the 29-year-old Gozitan MP announced he was running for the post himself on Tuesday night. Borg announced his candidacy in a video message on Tuesday evening, saying the PN needed generational change and a winning mentality. The announcement was met with incredulity from the Delia camp. Gorg Mallia, a canvasser of Delia, did not mince his words in a Facebook comment. 鈥淎lex Borg is one of the biggest liars. You yourself personally came to us on Monday at 10am and stayed until 12pm in a particular shop in Birkirkara,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou told us that you had come to an agreement the day before with Adrian that he would be leader, and that you even started thinking about whether you should accept being deputy leader 鈥 that鈥檚 the truth, I wasn鈥檛 alone and you won鈥檛 call me a liar 鈥 there were loyal people to you there, like I used to be.鈥 The party does not deserve a leader who has no integrity, he said. But other PN sources insist the betrayal, in fact, came from Delia, who spent three years since the general election grooming and mentoring Borg to be the next leader, only to then change his tune days after Bernard Grech鈥檚 resignation. They said Borg was clear from day one that he wanted to run, and until Grech鈥檚 resignation, Delia and his people appeared to be pushing him for leader. But since Grech stepped down, Delia began to advise him against it. Borg had clearly and repeatedly told Delia he wanted to run before Sunday, sources said, and it was Delia who first gave the impression he would support the young lawyer and then backtracked, they insisted. 鈥楧elia feels betrayed鈥, 鈥楢lex feels pressured鈥 During the parliamentary sitting on Wednesday, Times of Malta saw Delia in long talks with several PN MPs who are not considered his traditional allies. Sources close to those conversations said Delia expressed feeling hurt and betrayed by Borg鈥檚 decision to run against him. People close to the 29-year-old Gozitan, on the other hand, said Borg only ran after facing mounting pressure from supporters to contest. 鈥淪urveys are showing he is the favourite and he didn鈥檛 want to be the second preferred candidate to turn his back on the party. Metsola had already done that, and he didn鈥檛 want a repeat of it,鈥 one source said. 鈥淪ome Gozo supporters were also pressuring him to run, saying they wouldn鈥檛 vote if he didn鈥檛.鈥 In public, the two 鈥 considered from the party鈥檚 more conservative wing 鈥 appear to be downplaying any rift. Borg and Delia did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. Borg told reporters he was on good terms with Delia and that the race would be a 鈥渇riendly鈥 one. Delia said he is contesting out of a sense of responsibility to his country and party, stressing that he has evolved since he served as leader five years ago. Delia held that post from 2017 to 2020, until he was forced to resign after losing a vote of confidence. The no-confidence vote was led by a PN parliamentary rebel group. But the former PN leader said he has evolved since then and would do things differently this time around. He also said he has no intention of kicking PN MPs out of the party if he were to become leader. 鈥淢y job in the Nationalist Party is not to kick people out, but to bring in many people we need,鈥 the MP said. Surveys among Nationalist Party members 鈥 before either MP announced their candidacy 鈥 showed Borg as the favourite. In a survey leaked to Times of Malta last week, 27.5% of respondents wanted Borg for leader, with former leader Adrian Delia registering 19.3% of preferences and former PN MP Franco Debono scoring 8.8%. Almost 43% of all respondents, however, did not express a preference. A MaltaToday survey published last Sunday found similar results.