‘I want Ramesh at the rally’

Moonilal, who fought the internal elections on a Progressive Slate, told Newsday yesterday that he had not abandoned Political Leader Winston Dookeran.

"The Panday/Ramesh platform includes Dookeran," he said, pointing out that Dookeran’s did not say that he was not attending the rally and that his (Dookeran) picture appears consistently in all the ads. "In fact the combination of Panday, Maharaj, Dookeran and Jack Warner is the most lethal political combination since post-independence," Moonilal stated.

He said he always believed "over the past four and a half years" that Maharaj had an important role to play in terms of adding the fire power necessary for dislodging the PNM. "He brings strong political and legal ammunition," Moonilal stated.

He added that there was a strong sense from the rank and file that notwithstanding the break-up and the animosity that the Maharaj-Panday split engendered years ago, they wanted to let bygones be bygones. Asked if Dookeran was being undermined and the Maharaj return was part of this plan to marginalise the Political Leader, Moonilal said: "Dookeran has challenges in the party and in the country. But I am confident he will deal with those challenges and would overcome them." On the question of the discord within the party, Moonilal said one only saw the disunity on the front pages of the newspapers, "When I go into my constituency, there is no disunity. My constituents begged me to attend Sunday’s meeting," he said.

On the issue of Ganga Singh and the plan to remove him as Chief Whip, Moonilal said Singh had done an excellent job as Chief Whip. But he (Singh) should understand that the Chief Whip was there at the behest of the Opposition Leader. "It is not a job with rights and interests," Moonilal said, adding that if the Opposition Leader has misgivings about the Chief Whip, Singh should not give up the post.

He said while he admired Singh’s principled stand (taken in his speech in Parliament last Friday), if he was to be removed as Chief Whip "it would not be a case of wrongful dismissal."

Moonilal said the resignation of Roy Augustus and the removal of Montano were unfortunate. He said however he felt really sorry for the UNC party members who were in a state of "nervous shock. I am hoping that their torture (over the infighting) would cease and that after Sunday the party will settle down."

Asked whether he had completely abandoned the "Progressive" ship, Moonilal said he only saw one ship, the UNC and "that ship I will not abandon."