Panday slams Kamla, says she's not a leader

Opposition leader Basdeo Panday and Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj are both questioning the leadership credentials of the woman who is challenging them for the leadership of the United National Congress (UNC).

An opinion poll published Sunday suggests that Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar has a runaway lead of both Panday and Maharaj, noting that in a free and fair election on January 24, she would win a landslide.

Maharaj slammed Persad-Bissessar in statements over the weekend and Panday is doing the same. both men are abroad on holidays and are expected to return home this week.

Panday launches his campaign for re-election on Saturday at what organizers are calling a 'mega-event".

Panday said the records don't show Persad-Bissessar as a person who can claim significant achievements. “I heard her saying that she was the first female acting prime minister and the first attorney general. Those were not achievements. Those were efforts on my part to train her for leadership,” Panday told Newsday.

But he suggested that she did learn. And he said she doesn't have the qualities of a leader.

However, these sentiments are on conflict with public statements he has made in the past and with assignments she has undertaken on behalf of the party. She was the chair of a unity committee that had the blessing of Panday.

While she made progress on that front because of her own track record and performance the project faltered because people rejected Panday as leader.

When Panday was convicted for not declaring financial information to the Integrity Commission, the party appointed Persad-Bissessar as opposition leader.

And in 2007, when Panday and Jack Warner jointly ran the campaign for the general election, Panday expressed faith and confidence in Persad-Bissessar. "Her political experience is vital to our winning," he told UNC supporters at a 2007 election rally in Chaguanas.