D-Day for Kamla

United National Congress (UNC) deputy leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has scheduled a reception at her office in Siparia for 3 p.m. Saturday to announce whether she will be a candidate for the leadership of the party.

She has remained non-committal, saying only that she will make the announcement on Saturday afternoon. She is not giving any hint about whether she will take up the challenge or sit it out and back her leader, Basdeo Panday.

The only declared candidates for the leadership so far are Panday and Tabaquite MP Ramesh L. Maharaj. He seems convinced that the Siparia MP would run and has been attacking her as a weak and ineffective leader.

Persad-Bissessar is under extreme pressure from UNC members in her constituency and in other party strongholds to enter the race, but she is torn between loyalty for them and loyalty to her leader, mentor and friend.

Political commentators have suggested that if she decides to run she stands the best chance of beating Panday and uniting the opposition as a first step to winning an election against the People's National Movement (PNM).

On Monday she appeared on a joint platform with Panday and challenged Manning to call and election now. Panday has welcomed competition for the leader's job, saying it shows that democracy is alive and well in the party. He is on record as saying that she has every right to run if she wants to do it.

On the other hand, he called Maharaj's entry into the leadership battle "comical".

This is the first time in the UNC's 20-year history that Panday is facing a challenge.

The other person who has been UNC leader is Winston Dookeran, who was anointed by Panday and elected unopposed.

But Dookeran claimed that he was unable to work with the UNC executive, whom he described as obstructionist, and went on to form his own party, the Congress of the People (COP).

The party has so far refused to work on a unity formula with Panday and some of its top officials are waiting to see if Persad-Bissessar would take the plunge. They believe she is best able to unite the opposition and win an election..