Dookeran might attend UNC congress

Congress of the People Leader Winston Dookeran is considering an invitation from the United National Congress (UNC) to attend its national congress on Sunday at the party's headquarters on Sunday.

Dookeran told reporters Monday he has received the party's invitation but has not decided if he will attend. He said he will make a decision after consultation with his party.

On Sunday, Dookeran attended a Divali function in Chaguanas West as the guest of the MP for the constituency and shared the stage with Jack Warner.

He called for an end to what the called "recklessness" in today's politics and urged leaders to embrace the nation's diversity and unity. He pledged to renew his mission of political unity, which failed previously.

Sunday's UNC congress will consider among other things a proposal to hold the party's long overdue internal elections on Jan. 24, 2010.

But Warner, who is one of the UNC's Deputy Leaders, has challenged the legality of the gathering and has threatened legal action if the party holds the congress. He has argued that the party has used a bogus membership list to determine who attends the congress.

Whatever happens at Sunday's gathering would impact on the future of Warner and his colleagues. Warner is facing disciplinary charges and could be either banned or expelled from the party, making him ineligible to contest any post in the internal election.

He has said he will run for the post of Chairman and has dismissed as a misrepresentation a newspaper report that said he will run against UNC leader Basdeo Panday for the leadership of the party.

Dookeran's new unity initiative could hit a hurdle if he attends and non-attendance would send a message that he has a partisan agenda. However, it is clear that his party has no love for Panday.

When he invited UNC Deputy Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar to attend a COP meeting earlier this year, COP members shouted down Persad-Bissessar when he mentioned Panday's name.

COP later apologized but its membership is opposed to any alliance with the UNC with Panday as leader. So far, Panday has not said if he will run for the leadership in an internal election. However he has made it clear that if the members of the party want him to do it he would fight against any challenger.

Panday has led the party since its formation in 1989 except for a brief period when he had stepped aside to allow Dookeran to be be elected unopposed as leader. That didn't work out and Dookeran left to form COP.