BEIRUT: Labor Minister Charbel Nahhas is daring Prime Minister Najib Mikati to fire him from his 30-member Cabinet.

“If they are able to secure two-thirds of the votes in Cabinet, let them fire me,” Nahhas said in remarks published Monday by As-Safir newspaper.

This was a clear reference to Mikati ,who has been at loggerheads with Nahhas over his refusal to sign transportation allowances.

Mikati, backed by President Michel Sleiman, is also in a heated dispute with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun over public sector appointments.

Aoun has criticized Mikati for his decision to appoint Christian figures to key government posts without prior consultation with him.

Nahhas also slammed Sleiman, saying Aoun’s bloc would confront any attempt on the part of the president to deprive him of his ministerial portfolio and grant it to someone else.

“A change in portfolios is not a joke,” he said, adding that such a decision “would have huge political repercussions and the Change and Reform bloc won’t accept it.”

Sleiman recently hinted that he may sack Nahhas or give him another Cabinet portfolio over his refusal to sign transportation allowances. Aoun swiftly responded by threatening to overthrow the entire government in the event Nahhas was targeted.

Nahhas, who is a member of Aoun’s bloc, also warned against considering revoking confidence in him.

“If the parliamentary majority should decide to revoke confidence in the labor minister, this means that the entire status of Prime Minister Najib Mikati is threatened,” he said.

Nahhas does not believe that the non-signing of the transportation allowance is a violation of the Constitution.

“On the contrary ... If a decree were issued by Cabinet that violated laws and international treaties, it would be a mistake for a minister to sign it.”