Buzau mayor Constantin Toma said many Social Democrats support Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan staying in office, warning the party risks 'a bad outcome' if it follows leader Sorin Grindeanu's line, while also referring to the case involving ARR head Cristian Anton.

Constantin Toma made the remarks after Sorin Grindeanu referred to him as 'our Bolojan supporter' following a regional meeting of the Bucharest-Ilfov organisations, adding that several party colleagues back the current prime minister.

The Social Democrat also stressed that his party should not withdraw from government.

'I regret to say this, but many colleagues support the current situation, meaning that Bolojan should remain prime minister because he is doing a good job. He may have had some excesses, perhaps he is not an outstanding communicator, but he is the right person in the right place in these difficult times. He is the first person since 1990 who is trying to save Romania's situation and build a better future for this country. There is a political agreement, the rotation is scheduled for April next year, and Bolojan can only be replaced by his own party, as is normal. The Social Democratic Party will lose image by making this move. It even risks ending up in opposition. At the moment, people say the PSD is both in government and in opposition. If it leaves government, it will clearly no longer be in government, but neither will it truly be in opposition, as the opposition majority is held by AUR [the Alliance for the Union of Romanians] and its allies. So a bad outcome awaits the PSD if it follows what Mr Grindeanu is advocating,' the Buzau mayor told AGERPRES.

He added that, for the Social Democratic Party, the National Antiocorruption (DNA) investigation at the Romanian Road Authority (ARR) represents 'a blow'.

On Wednesday, Grindeanu said that 'only one Romanian, across all six regional meetings, argued that we should continue in the same way. We also have our own 'Bolojan supporter', of course — Toma from Buzau. Otherwise, not a single person at those six regional meetings said we should continue in this format.' AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Florin Zafiu; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)