Democratic Party of Japan Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa on Tuesday effectively reversed a plan to relieve an immediate subordinate who had openly criticized him over his money scandal and had questioned his leadership.
The DPJ was going to make a formal decision to replace Yukio Ubukata, a fourth-term Lower House member from Chiba Prefecture, as vice secretary general at a meeting of the DPJ Standing Officers Council in the afternoon.
But the meeting was abruptly postponed and in a separate meeting between Ozawa and Ubukata, Ozawa asked his deputy to stay on.