Panday shrugs off claim of plot with Manning to destroy RAMJACK

Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday on Friday dismissed a claim made by Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner that his recent meeting with Prime Minister Patrick Manning was part not part of any "concentrated plan" to get rid of the RamJack faction of the United National Congress (UNC).

Warner made the charge at a public meeting Thursday night in Panday's Couva North constituency. He said Panday told him during a flight on British Airways from London to Port of Spain on May 22 that he could make a deal with Panday to destroy Ramjack and also the Congress of the People (COP), Warner suggested that the Nov. 3 meeting between Panday and Manning was part of that plot. Read the story: Manning-Panday plan to mash up Ramjack: Warner Panday said previously that a "secret" meeting Manning-Warner was part of a conspiracy against him and had accused Warner of being a PNM agent. In response to Thursday's charges by Warner, Panday told the Trinidad Express: "Another secret meeting? Oh my God, they meeting on planes now?" He said, "Quite frankly, I think you should ask Mr Manning if it is being alleged that he was the participant of this conversation." Panday said he has more pressing issues to address. One of the pressing issues is sorting out internal problems within his own party, including a decision that UNC deputy leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had made to speak at Saturday's Congress of the People rally against the property tax. Persad-Bissessar has pulled out of the rally explaining that she had to do it "given the vicious attack" that COP has launched against Panday with regard to his meeting with Manning. COP has claimed that the talks between the two leaders was part of a secret agenda to safeguard their individual political turf. Read the story: "I don't trust Mr Panday": Dookeran Panday said on national radio earlier in the week he didn't know about Persad-Bissessar's attendance and that the UNC executive had not discussed it. The UNC Deputy Leader wrote COP and withdraw from the rally after Panday's comments. Read the story: Kamla blanks COP's Woodford Square rally She told local media Friday it's a "storm in the teacup". She said there are some people who are intent on causing divisions in the UNC.