Warner lawsuit: Bas says UNC members did "a stupid thing"

Basdeo Panday is upset with members of the United National Congress (UNC) executive who intervened to get Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner to halt legal proceedings against Panday for slander.

Warner agreed Thursday to stop the proceedings without prejudice, meaning that he can pursue the action at a later date, after UNC General Secretary Fazal Karim and MPs Chandresh Sharma and Tim Gopeesingh appealed to him not to go ahead with plans to sue. Warner said he put party first and heeded their pleas.

But Panday told the Trinidad Express Thursday the move by his party's executive members was stupid.

"If they did that, they did a very stupid thing and they did it without my permission or authority," Panday said in a telephone interview with the Express.

The opposition leader insisted that Warner has no case against him, adding that "Jack Warner is irrelevant to the politics of the UNC, he is only relevant to the politics of the PNM".

He said, "There was no need to bargain with anybody because there is nothing to bargain for."

Panday is in New York as a guest of GOPIO, the Global Organization for People of Indian Origin, which is celebrating is 20th anniversary.

He told the paper when he gets home he intends to interrogate those who appealed to Warner, to find out why they took that action.

Gopeesingh and Sharma explained to the Express that they spoke with Warner because they were concerned about the impact the battle is having. They also confirmed that they did not act on Panday's behalf.

"I called Mr Warner on Tuesday in my personal capacity, not on behalf of the party and not on behalf of anyone," Gopeesingh told the paper.

He added, "I told him this is going on too long and if he has the same common mission as we have of removing the PNM, we need to put a stop to this issue and for him to consider using other alternative dispute mechanisms which he is capable of doing by virtue of his international experience to deal with conflict."

But Sharma said he acted on behalf of his constituency executive and the people on the ground who are tired of the internal strife.

He told the paper he was overwhelmed with messages and phone calls from people asking him to speak with Warner to end the internal conflict.

Sharma said he hopes Warner also drops any other legal action he intended to take against the UNC executive. The actions include the party's decision to send Warner, Ramesh L. Maharaj and Winston "Gypsy" Peters before a disciplinary committee and action against two councillors who helped ousted Suruj Rambachan as mayor of Chaguanas.