No confidence in Ramesh; Jack promises to go to back bench

A report in the Sunday Express says members of the United National Congress (UNC) executive have told Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj they have lost confidence in him and have asked him to resign the position.

The paper reported that its sources revealed that the decision came at the party's national executive meeting on Wednesday and that three MPs told Maharaj he should quit. The sources, according to the paper, said the UNC member who attempted to bell the cat were Dr Tim Gopeesingh, Subhas Panday and Wade Mark.

Maharaj told the paper he has no indention of quitting and would wait to see what the political leader decides.

It was the same tactic Maharaj employed when he was in an open fight with Basdeo Panday when Panday was prime minister. Maharaj was Attorney General at the time and he and MPs Trevor Sudama and Ralph Maharaj were fighting their own party over what they said was a lack of transparency.

Maharaj called a news conference at his offices and advised reporters that Panday planned to fire him and that he would not quit. Panday obliged him a few days later, appointing Kamla Persad-Bissessar to replace Maharaj.

Commenting on Wednesday's development's Gopeesingh denied that neither he nor any other executive members made any direct request to the Tabaquite MP to leave his parliamentary post. He said they merely told him that members have lost confidence in him.

Maharaj and Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner held a meeting in St Augustine where they spoke about an alleged plot to expel or suspend them from the party. Both of them told supporters they plan to hold similar meetings across the country to advise UNC members of what's happening inside the party.

They plan to end the series of meetings with "a grand meeting" at the Centre of Excellence on April 26 at which they would listen to the people to decide whether they should leave the UNC or continue fighting for change.

Both Warner and Maharaj will meet with the UNC executive on April 15 to discuss their various concerns.

Warner said he is aware of a plot being hatched by his UNC colleagues to expel him and Maharaj from the party. He said he expects the party would remove Maharaj as chief whip. He said if that happens he and Mayaro MP Winston "Gypsy" Peters would move to the back bench.