Kamla Persad-Bissessar has the support of the majority of opposition MPs in the House of Representatives and can depose Basdeo Panday as opposition leader.However, a source close to the new United National Congress (UNC) leadership has told JYOTI there is no urgency to make the change.
The leader herself has said there is no rush, noting that she can do her job effectively with Panday as the official Opposition leader.
The turning point came at Wednesday's caucus meeting when Panday and some of his supporters stormed out of the Parliamentary arm meeting at Rienzi when Panday did not get his way in demanding a public inquiry into the recent UNC election.
The source said the incident demonstrated clearly that the change is now needed because Panday has made it clear that he does not recognize the authority of the new leader and the executive.
Panday has remained Opposition leader despite the fact that the oppositon UNC has a new political leader.
If a majority of MPs write to the president advising him that they now support Persad-Bissessar, the president would be obliged to fire Panday and appoint the Siparia MP to replace him.
JYOTI's source said it is now clear that MPs understand there is no point to hanging on to Panday's coat tail and prolonging the issue which would create unnecessary friction within the caucus and the party.
The source did not say which MPs would support the new leader.
Going into the election Persad-Bissessar had the support of Jack Warner, Winston "Gypsy" Peters, Harry Partap and Nizam Baksh. When her own vote is added that gives the support of five of 15 opposition MPs. She would need three more to make the change.
While no one would say which three would join her, there is speculation that the support would come from Tim Gopeesingh, Roodal Moonilal and Chandresh Sharma.
Kelvin Ramnath, Subhas Panday, Mickela Panday, Vasant Bharath, Hamza Rafeeq and Ramesh L. Maharaj are reportedly sticking with Panday.
The new executive is trying to delay the change because it wants to prevent a divided opposition in Parliament with eight in favour of the UNC leader and the others supporting Panday.
That would give the appearance of a third party in the Parliament.
1 comment:
Those who decide to stand with Bas over Kamla are in contempt of the party membership who made a staggeringly obvious choice for new leadership that the Panday camp is incapable of offering. They are holding on to a legal technicality, just like when the President decided to appoint Manning in 2001 on a legal technicality. The leader of the UNC has been most gracious in her patience - something that she does not have to do and signals clearly her genuine wish to heal wounds and replace Manning with a capable government. These nostalgic dissidents would serve their constituents best if they either worked with her, or get out of the way.
Post a Comment