Ramesh keeps his seat as Chief Whip

Despite the predictions that he would be fired as opposition Chief Whip Tabaquite MP Ramesh Maharaj sat in his regular front-bench seat in the House of Representatives next to opposition leader Basdeo Panday on Friday, with Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner on the other side of Panday.

Caroni Central MP Dr Hamza Rafeeq occupied the seat briefly as he normally does when the Chief Whip is not in the House. But when Maharaj arrived late for the sitting he spoke with Rafeeq, who vacated the seat and moved to his regular back-bench location.

On Wednesday, the Parliamentary caucus and national executive of the United National Congress (UNC) overwhelmingly passed a motion of no confidence in Maharaj and recommended to the political leader the dismissal of Maharaj from the influential post in Parliament.

Panday subsequently said he would make an attempt to meet Maharaj to discuss the circumstances before making any change on the front bench. But Maharaj declined and called a news conference instead and informed reporters that it was a forgone conclusion that his days at Panday's side were numbered.

But Panday is playing his cards carefully. He met with Maharaj Friday to discuss a no-confidence motion and later told reporters he still has not made a decision on whether to fire him. He said he wanted to hear Maharaj's side of the story and discuss “what we should do about that.”

The former prime minister said he has not decided. “Don’t ask me what is the decision because of course you know I can’t tell you that. It really makes no sense to have a meeting at 11 o’clock and take a decision at 12. It would have been a farce,” Panday told reporters.

Panday explained that in order to make a "rational" decision he needed to consider all the facts.

For his part Maharaj continued to insist that his time as Chief Whip “may be very temporary.” He said if Panday fires him he would continue his service as an MP and he told reporters he does not care to hold any post in the party.