Bas is back, but will Parliament see opposition musical chairs?

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday ignores PM Patrick Manning at the opening on the 9th Parliament in December 2007. MPs Ramesh L. Maharaj and Jack Warner and on either side of Panday

Basdeo Panday returns to his seat in the House of Representatives Friday after running the opposition from outside for nine and a half months. But if there are fireworks from the veteran politician and former prime minister the ones to take cover might be his own MPs.

There is a rift between the opposition leader and MPs Jack Warner and Ramesh L. Maharaj. Warner, who is the representative for Chaguanas West, is also the Deputy Political leader of the United National Congress (UNC). Maharaj is opposition chief whip and MP for Tabaquite. Both men sit on the front benches with Panday.

But an internal squabble among the top UNC jefes has spilled into the public domain. Warner is dissatisfied with the way the UNC is running and has stated publicly that it risks becoming irrelevant if it remains mired in the past and shuns the changes that are necessary to deal with the political realities of the 21st century. Maharaj supports that view and both men have called for the party to hold internal elections and move on.

But Panday doesn't share that view. He has dismissed elections until after the next local government election, citing a decision by the party's national executive. And he disagrees with Warner's contention that the party is not adequately confronting the PNM both in and out of Parliament.

Now the bickering has led Panday to raise another issue - attendance in Parliament and discipline in the parliamentary caucus. The issue means that both Warner and Maharaj could be assigned new seats away from the front bench.

Panday said he is waiting for an attendance report from the Clerk of the House before taking any decisions, so he might be flanked by Warner and Maharaj when Parliament gets to work on Friday.

But Warner saved Panday the trouble of waiting and presented him with a full attendance report from Parliament showing that he is the MP who attended the least number of sittings in the first session of Parliament that ended in December, having missed 18 of the 48 with the permission of the Speaker. Maharaj missed 10, along with Panday's daughter, rookie MP Mikela Panday, who was also absent for 10 sitting.

Warner's responsibilities as Vice President of FIFA requires regular travel abroad and he has said the party is aware of that. He became an MP long after taking on the top FIFA job. And he has challenged anyone to prove that he isn't doing his job as an MP.

But that is not the issue, according to Panday. The opposition leader wants his MPs in the House more regularly and has even suggested that he might rearrange the seating for the opposition side to 'look nice' for the TV cameras.

Warner is not fighting for his front seat. He told reporters it really doesn't matter where Panday puts him to sit so long as it is not "on the PNM bench". He said he works hard at representing his constituents and that's what matters most.

Still, Warner is not angry at Panday. But he has suggested that attendance is a red herring. "I am saying if you have an axe to grind, don't use no excuse, or scapegoat. Come out and do it directly, nuh man. Don't try to fool people. We have a mature, intelligent society," Warner told reporters Thursday.

And he pledged to continue fighting to get the UNC into government whatever the sacrifice he has to make. "So it is what I say, not where I sit that is important, okay?" he said. Maharaj shares that view.

The Tabaquite MP is also concerned about another matter - the return of the UNC's Monday Night Forum - which kicks off Monday in Maharaj's Tabaquite constituency. Seven speakers are listed on the agenda, including the political leader, deputy leader Wade Mark and MPs Kelvin Ramnath and Hamza Rafeeq. Maharaj's name is not on the list and his constituents want to know why.

He said people in Macaulay are telling him if he and Warner are not attending the meeting Monday they won't go. Warner is popular in that area because when the community had a serious crime problem last year he set up a security post at his own expense.

Maharaj explained the party told him they took his name off the list of speakers after he advised officials that he would be late because he had to attend the funeral of a brother-in-law, whose body was being flown in from India the same day.