Kamla will attend COP congress

UNC Deputy Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar will attend Saturday's congress of the Congress of the People (COP) in San Fernando.

COP leader Winston Dookeran invited the Siparia MP to the political gathering as he announced that he is opening up the party to everyone. He also invited another UNC Deputy Leader, Jack Warner. But Dookeran said Warner's invitation is in his capacity as Vice President of FIFA.

Read the story: "Come on over." Dookeran invites Jack, Kamla to COP congress

Persad-Bissessar had written to the leaders of all political parties, including Dookeran, asking them to meet with a UNC team she heads, to discuss a unity accord among the opposition. So far her team has enlisted one political party - the Democratic National Assembly, led by Dr Kirk Meighoo.

She sent Dookeran a letter Monday accepting his invitation.

“In pursuit of my party’s quest for unity I humbly accept your invitation to attend and shall be accompanied by my colleagues on the Unity Committee appointed by the UNC of which I am the chairperson,” she wrote.

At Monday's UNC meeting in Barrackpore Persad-Bissessar talked about the issue of opposition unity, crime, the Law Association’s resolution and the PNM’s policy on regional integration.

Dookeran's public invitation over the weekend was a follow-up to a letter he had written to Persad-Bissessar on July 1 seeking talks about issues facing the nation.

The invitation to Warner has not generated any interest from the Chaguanas MP who has said that talking about sports is irrelevant to the politics of today and the work he is doing to prepare the UNC for governance. He wished Persad-Bissessar well.

Dookeran's position is a departure from his stand regarding his relationship with the UNC. He was elected unopposed as leader of the party but walked away and formed the COP, complaining that the party's executive was obstructionist and therefore he was unable to function as leader.

During the 2007 election campaign he turned down every offer from both Warner and UNC leader Basdeo Panday to form a united front against the PNM and said repeatedly that COP would never join the UNC under Panday's leadership.

He even invited Persad-Bissessar to join COP, an offer she rejected outright, saying she would never desert her party.

Now there is concern about whether Dookeran is genuinely courting the UNC, which is still led by Panday, trying to woo Persad-Bissessar to join COP or just creating an opportunity to gain political mileage from Saturday's meeting without making any real steps toward opposition unity.