Basdeo Panday is heading into Chagunas West Thursday as he begins his added duties of being "surrogate father" of the constituency held by Jack Warner, and plans to drop in to meet Orlando Nagassar, deputy mayor of Chaguanas.There are no plans to meet the new mayor. But Natasha Navas is ready to welcome Panday if he wants to meet with her.
"I will be here in office. If it is he wishes to come across, I will make the necessary accommodation to meet with him. After all, he is the political leader of the UNC and the MP for Couva North," she told the Trinidad Express.
Navas has changed her tone towards Panday. Last week she pointed out that the deputy mayor's office should not be used for political purposes. However, Nagessar and the Chagunas corporation's CEO, William Mark, dismissed the mayor's concerns.
Commenting on his visit Thursday, Panday told the Express he is going to Chaguanas to do his job.
"I am the leader of the Opposition, that is an official post created by the constitution. I am the leader of the Opposition of the entire country. My job is therefore to attend to the problems of the entire country and that is what I would be doing", he told the paper.
He also commented on the mayor's decision to appoint three PNM councillors to chair four of the corporation's sub-committees.
"I feel sorry for her. She is a tool of Jack Warner who is making an absolute fool of her. I really feel sorry for her. This is the work of Jack Warner, who has made a deal with the PNM and he has handed the Chaguanas borough over to the PNM," Panday said.
The UNC executive plans to meet Thursday to discuss whether the party should take disciplinary action against the UNC councillors who voted to oust former Chaguanas mayor Suruj Rambachan and install Navas.
The party had summoned Warner to its meeting Thursday as well, but Warner advised the UNC secretariat that he is unavailable because he had a prior international commitment in his role as FIFA Vice President.
He had also requested full details of all charges against him in order to prepare his defence and allow his lawyers to be ready to cross-examine his accusers.
The party has accused Warner of a breach of party rules by voting with the People's National Movement (PNM) in Parliament. It also says he has brought the party into disrepute by his actions, which include holding meetings that it says were not sanctioned by the party.
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