Riding on a tide of feel-good sentiments since taking over from Tung Chee-hwa, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen came down to earth when faced with political realities following the defeat of the constitutional reform proposal.
He has confessed to miscalculating and misjudging the democratic camp, which he now describes as the 'opposition faction'. The democrats, meanwhile, said Mr Tsang's harsh words about them showed his true colours, although they admitted they found him easier to talk to than Mr Tung.
Democrat legislator Cheung Man-kwong said: 'Definitely, Mr Tsang has a better relationship with us than Mr Tung. We have a common language ... But I'm afraid that Mr Tsang has done a lot of damage in the past few weeks.'
He accused Mr Tsang of playing dirty politics aimed at splitting the democrats by claiming he had secured six votes from pro-democracy legislators for the blueprint before one of them made a last-minute change of mind. 'It raises a question about the political integrity of Mr Tsang,' Mr Cheung said.
He also dismissed Mr Tsang's claim that the electoral setback would damage democrats' relations with the mainland.
Mr Cheung said: 'He should stop playing the card of claiming to be an intermediary between Beijing and the democrats. The fact is there has been communications at different levels, through various channels.'
