Desmond Allum, who moved the motion of no confidence in Attorney General John Jeremie, insists that he acted in his legal capacity and that there was no political influence in the vote.
Other lawyers at the meeting that passed the motion, including opposition MP Mickela Panday, have also made the same point.
But Allum told the Trinidad Express he was not surprised to learn of Manning's decision to pass off the matter and political and keep John Jeremie in office.
He said the Law Association would now have to look at how to respond to Manning's decision.
Martin Daly, President of the Law Association issued a media release sasying the association would not make any comment immediately.
However Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday is calling for Manning's resignation. "First of all, when the Attorney General had tendered his resignation, we did suspect it was a scam, a hoax to take the heat off the issue," Panday said in an interview with the Trinidad Express.
"If the Attorney General is committed to resigning, all he has to do is tender his resignation not offer it. Since they are playing games with the nation, what the population should do is force the Prime Minister to accept the resignation."
Panday said Manning know there is tremendous pressure from the people to remove Jeremie based on his record of trying to influence the judiciary. "I believe they worked up a scam in an attempt to allay the fears of the people. Nobody has confidence in him, worse than that, they don't trust him," Panday told the paper.
Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj agreed that Manning should have accepted the resignation.
"It is totally improper and a contempt of the people for the Prime Minister to say he is not accepting the resignation. The Prime Minister has therefore absorbed all blows and responsibility of the Attorney General and we now call for the resignation of the Prime Minister," Maharaj told the paper.
Maharaj agreed with Panday that if Jeremie had genuinely wanted to quit he would have tendered his resignation, not "offered" it. Maharaj charged that Jeremie is in cabinet do Manning's "hatchet jobs".
Political Leader of the Congress of the People, Winston Dookeran, is also calling for Manning to go.
"If the Prime Minister refuses to accept the advice of the Attorney General then in my view the Prime Minister should resign, because he is now accepting the fact he has appointed someone who himself decided he was not fit and proper to hold office."
He added, "I believe it was set-up from day one. It was a farcical offer of resignation to insult the intelligence of the people."
Dookeran described as a "red herring" Manning's claim that the no confidence vote was a political move. He told the Express it is a typical PNM approach to finding scapegoats whenever there is a problem.
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