UNC denies new Panday rumours

NEW REPORTS have emerged which claim that Basdeo Panday will resign as UNC political leader sometime around January 15 but local UNC officials have dismissed the reports as mere political mischief-making and said Panday has no such plans. According to political sources in New York, Panday has been lobbying the government of India to receive an award at an international conference on the Indian Diaspora to be held in Bombay next month. Panday and his wife Oma left last week for London to spend Christmas with their children. They are scheduled to leave London for India in January and return to TT sometime in mid-January.

At a UNC Christmas function at Rienzi Complex, Couva two weeks ago, Panday announced that he would be going to India in January. He also said the UNC had overcome significant obstacles in 2004 and predicted that better days lay ahead for the party. The sources claim there is an agreement that once Panday receives that award, he would announce his resignation as Opposition Leader and that St Augustine MP Winston Dookeran would take his place. Sources further allege that Panday has given a significant financial contribution to one organisation which recommended him for the award.

One source said as part of the alleged agreement, Panday would remain as Couva North MP to prevent his former deputy Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj from “becoming a political force.” Another source claimed that Panday is adamant that even if it becomes necessary for the UNC to form an alliance with Maharaj to defeat the PNM, the former AG must not be included in any future UNC government.