Sanaah, more commonly known as Santo, who has been one of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu's most loyal supporters since his time as Mayor and served as his personal assistant during the presidential campaign, has left the main ruling People's National Congress (PNC).

In a social media post, Sanaah announced that he has resigned from his position as a PNC Senate member and from his membership in the party, effective Monday. He tagged both Muizzu and the official PNC account in the post.

The reason for Sanaah’s sudden departure from PNC has not been disclosed. However, tensions had previously surfaced between the PNC leadership and Sanaah. The discord arose after Sanaah won the primary for the Thimarafushi constituency, but Muizzu awarded the PNC ticket to Ahmed Riyaz, who had contested as an independent and is the current Member of Parliament for the constituency.

Notably, Sanaah was one of the first individuals within the Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) to take the lead in the effort to secure the presidential election ticket for President Muizzu.