Panday: Dookeran out of place

At a cottage meeting in La Romaine on Saturday, Dookeran said he would take action if the party’s election committee did not investigate electoral queries of that vote. St Joseph MP Gerald Yetming initially won the deputy chairman post on a Progressives ticket (the slate endorsed by Dookeran) but subsequently lost the post to the Patriots’ (the slate led by Panday) candidate Vasant Bharath.

However, Panday told Newsday that the committee has been dissolved and the only way the committee can be reformed is through a majority vote of the UNC’s national executive (which is controlled by the Patriots, 13 to five).

The UNC chairman hinted that this meant that Dookeran could not act unilaterally on queries surrounding the deputy chairman post. Panday said he has not spoken recently with Maharaj about his rejoining the UNC.

Panday had offered Maharaj a position as a temporary UNC senator during last week’s Budget debate in the Upper House. Maharaj confirmed that Panday made this offer to him but said he declined to take up that position because of his heavy commitments.

However, the former AG said he would be willing to return to the UNC, "once the time is right."

On Dookeran’s argument that he should have been consulted on Maharaj returning to the UNC, Panday said that may be Dookeran’s view but he (Panday) was not aware that he needed anyone’s permission to speak to Maharaj and still held that view.

Following yesterday’s PNM general council meeting at Balisier House, party chairman Franklin Khan said the PNM will defeat the UNC in the next general elections regardless of what configuration it takes and whether or not Maharaj rejoins the UNC. "We (PNM) fear no one," Khan declared.

Panday also said no decision has been taken for Maharaj and Bharath to replace Carolyn Seepersad Bachan and Roy Augustus as UNC senators. Last Friday, Bachan said she had not been informed of any such decision to date and that decision lay solely in Panday’s hands as Opposition Leader. In confirming that this is so, Panday indicated that this function was outlined in the law and while he did not need to consult with the UNC’s executive on making changes to the party’s senatorial line-up, he could do so as a matter of courtesy.

UNC deputy political leader Jack Warner is at odds with Panday over Yetming losing the deputy chairman post, plans to bring Maharaj back into the party (which have been openly supported by Warner’s fellow deputy leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar and UNC treasurer Chandresh Sharma, both of whom contested the elections on the Patriots’ slate) and Panday retaining the post of Opposition Leader rather than giving it to Dookeran.

Following the new executive’s first meeting last week at Rienzi Complex in Couva, Panday (at a joint news conference with Dookeran) said the issue of him turning over the Opposition Leader post to Dookeran was not raised.