The ruling Saenuri Party late on Friday denounced Ahn Cheol-soo’s renouncement of his presidential bid as “irresponsible,” immediately eyeing moderate votes that had been supporting the former professor.

“We regret the resignation of Ahn, who envisions new politics,” Ahn Hyung-hwan, a Saenuri spokesman, said in a statement.

“Ahn Cheol-soo’s experimental efforts for political reform appear to have run into the wall of the DUP’s crafty old politics and fallen apart.”

The popular software mogul-turned-professor’s resignation came as a series of heated talks with Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party failed to hammer out the rules for selecting the liberal standard bearer.

“What Ahn has been chanting is new politics, different from the existing politics. But him suddenly withdrawing his candidacy is totally inconsistent,” said Lee Hak-jae, chief secretary to Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye.

Shortly after Ahn’s announcement, Kim Moo-sung, the head of the Saenuri election strategy office, opened an emergency meeting for Saenuri’s election steering team, apparently to discuss countermeasures and prepare for a two-way showdown with Moon.

The conservative party has been going all-out to denounce the alliance talks between the progressive liberals that were seen to pose a significant threat to frontrunner Park.

Kim quipped after last week’s sudden suspension of the two candidates’ talks that Ahn had “finally learned that he is being exploited by the DUP.”

“The outcome of the single candidacy talks was destined to position Ahn as kindling wood for Moon to win public support so he can grab power,” he said.

Kim Sung-joo, a co-chair of the party’s central election committee, said Monday that “It will not be late for Ahn to study politics more and come back five years later if he were to protect his scholarly conscience and sincerity,” urging his exit from the race.

Behind the scenes, however, the Saenuri Party’s top brass have been in a dither in recent weeks as the much-touted merger talks between the two liberal-minded contenders stole the spotlight as Park struggled to rise in the polls.

Park, meanwhile, plans to meet on Saturday with Lee Hoi-chang, a former chairman of the right-wing Liberty Forward Party, who is expected to endorse her to help consolidate the conservative base.

By Shin Hyon-hee (heeshin@heraldcorp.com)