Rogue MPs drop out race

THE ONGOING leadership battle in the Opposition UNC took a new twist yesterday as some UNC MPs charged that the party’s recent drive to recruit general and local government election candidates was another attempt by the national executive to strengthen its grip on the party and remove Winston Dookeran as UNC political leader.

Acting UNC chairman Vasant Bharath told Newsday yesterday that the party received 308 applications from persons interested in contesting the 41 seats that will be up for grabs in next year’s general and local government polls. He said among those applicants were some of the sitting UNC Lower House MPs who also had to apply if they were interested in standing for re-election. The exercise concluded on June 30.

However Caroni east MP Ganga Singh yesterday said he did not file an application because he viewed the entire process as a “false acknowledgement of the cabal” which is currently controlling the UNC. “I will not be part of an exercise that is a farse, and a sham on the UNC’s membership,” he declared. The former chief whip added that the exercise was contrary to the UNC’s constitution where incumbent MPs are concerned.

Barataria/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan said he also did not submit an application to stand for re-election to the party. He described the party’s recent candidate recruitment as the “proverbial carrot and stick” approach that was designed to browbeat those who apply into supporting the incumbent national executive.

Khan agreed with Singh that incumbent MPs should never be asked to submit applications to stand for re-election and the UNC’s constitution was very clear that they should be given the choice by the party to contest the polls.

He said the election recruitment drive was the latest act of stupidity taking place within the UNC, and he claimed that the candidates selected to face the polls will not be independent thinkers who can help the party to defeat the PNM in next year’s elections.

Pointe-a-Pierre MP Gillian Lucky said she did not file an application and would not do so until the UNC was allowed to return to its fundamental principles which “allowed professional integrity to reign supreme.”

Attempts to contact Dookeran yesterday to find out whether he submitted an application to contest his St Augustine seat in the next general election were unsuccessful.

However his communications officer Nirad Tewarie said Dookeran “gets his power from the people he represents” and did not need to subject himself to a process such as the party’s candidate recruitment drive.

The UNC leader will hold a news conference at his Tunapuna constituency office today at 2 pm.

Fyzabad MP Chandresh Sharma said he submitted his application and any UNC MP objecting to the process was “being foolish and playing smart with nothing.” Sharma said those MPs were “not God’s gift to politics” and must learn to follow “due process and rule.” Bharath dismissed claims that supporting the UNC national executive was a condition for people to be selected as general or local government election candidates.

He said the process undertaken by the party was not biased and was “open for everyone” who was interested in serving the population.

Bharath said that the party had no intention of foisting any incumbent MP or councillor on the electorate who had failed to perform his or her duties. He declined to reveal the identities of persons who had offered themselves as candidates, stating that the party is still to review their applications.

Sharma also declined to say who the applicants were and how many incumbent UNC MPs were among them.

However he indicated that while 40 of the constituencies have more than one candidate, there has been no application for the Couva North seat which is still occupied by former opposition leader Basdeo Panday. Sharma said given Panday’s current legal matter it could not be certain whether Panday would decide to stand for re-election.

Among the names being touted as possible general elections candidates are Panday’s daughter Mikela, UNC deputy leader Jack Warner and former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.

The UNC will be in Penal tonight at 7 pm for another one of its Monday night People’s Forum. The party holds its youth and women congresses at Rienzi Complex, Couva from 1 to 5 pm on July 16.

The no-confidence motion against Dookeran will be discussed by the UNC’s youth and women’s arms on July 16. This will be followed by a national congress of the UNC on July 31 at which time the party may decide whether or not it should expel Dookeran.