Prior to that he had been a lecturer at the Department of Economics at the University of the West Indies.
He was re-elected in 1986 as the Chaguanas MP as a candidate for the new National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR), which was a unitary party that included the ULF and other parties opposed to the governing People's National Movement (PNM).
Basdeo Panday, who was one of the architects of the NAR, gave up the leadership of the new party to A.N.R. Robinson before the election. Once in government, Robinson named Dookeran as his Minister of Planning and Mobilization.
When the NAR broke up, Dookeran did not walk away with Panday and the former ULF politicians. He felt it was more constructive to remain in the NAR.
He later became Deputy Political Leader of the NAR and acted on several occasions as Prime Minister. During the 1990 attempted Muslimeen coup he was allowed to leave the Parliament to negotiate an end to the uprising.
Panday and his followers later formed the United National Congress (UNC) and in the 1991 general election Dookeran was defeated in Chaguanas by a candidate of the UNC.
He left politics and took a post as Senior Economist at the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNECLAC). He was also a member of the Executive Board of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) and the governor of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB).
In July 1997 the Panday government appointed Dookeran as Governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, a post he held until 2002 when Panday encouraged him to return to active politics.
Dookeran reluctantly agreed and won the St Augustine seat in the 2002 general election, which saw the PNM return to power.
The loss of the election created an opportunity for change in the UNC and in 2005 Dookeran was elected unopposed as leader of the UNC after Panday stepped aside and endorsed him. In that election Panday won the post of Chairman of the party.
From the start, Dookeran was at loggerheads with the UNC hierarchy and complained that Panday continued to influence party policy and undermine his authority as leader.
That created strong divisions, with one of his allies, Jack Warner, returning to join Panday to prepare for the 2007 general election. The writing was on the wall and Dookeran and some loyal UNC members, including Prakash Ramadhar and Anand Ramlogan, walked away and formed the Congress of the People (COP).
Within months, COP became a strong opposition party and the popular view leading up to the 2007 general election was that it would form the government. However, the UNC staged a strong comeback with Panday and Warner leading the party.
Although Dookeran's COP won 148,000 votes it failed to take a seat and the UNC returned as the official opposition with the PNM getting a strong majority.
Dookeran had campaigned on a new politics that offered integrity and accountability and attracted a mass of UNC supporters as well as the country's middle class.
Once the election was out of the way, Panday offered an olive branch of unity but Dookeran was reluctant. Although COP was interested in a united opposition, it did not want to do business with Panday, who had lost much of his political currency.
Warner, who had also become disenchanted with Panday's leadership, formed the Movement for Change and lobbied hard with some of parliamentary colleagues to have long overdue elections in the UNC.
When Panday eventually agreed, Warner endorsed Kamla Persad-Bissessar and helped her win an unprecedented landslide in the UNC internal election on January 24, 2010.
That was the opportunity Dookeran sought. COP had always said it could do business with Persad-Bissessar and once she was in firm control of the UNC Dookeran made the next move, announcing publicly that the next election would be the opposition against the PNM.
Although COP was reluctant, Dookeran pushed ahead with his unity agenda and announced that he would join the opposition but not dissolve the party. That was the genesis of the unity that led to the Fyzabad Declaration and the formation of the People's Partnership, which defeated the PNM on may 24, 2010.
COP candidates won six of the seats in that election and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar handed Dookeran the Finance Ministry.
Dookeran remained a strong supporter of the ideals of the Partnership and has expressed optimism that it will grow stronger. His departure from the leadership of the party does not change his or COP's commitment to the partnership. However that could change, depending on who emerges on July 3 as Dookeran's successor.
In an interview with JYOTI in November 2010 Dookeran had indicated that he would not contest the 2011 internal election. However he said he would always support the partnership because it is the best political formula for Trinidad and Tobago.
It was his commitment - and the dedication of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other members of the partnership that led to the historic coalition of interests that today governs Trinidad and Tobago.
JAI PARASRAM
That was the opportunity Dookeran sought. COP had always said it could do business with Persad-Bissessar and once she was in firm control of the UNC Dookeran made the next move, announcing publicly that the next election would be the opposition against the PNM.
Although COP was reluctant, Dookeran pushed ahead with his unity agenda and announced that he would join the opposition but not dissolve the party. That was the genesis of the unity that led to the Fyzabad Declaration and the formation of the People's Partnership, which defeated the PNM on may 24, 2010.
COP candidates won six of the seats in that election and Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar handed Dookeran the Finance Ministry.
Dookeran remained a strong supporter of the ideals of the Partnership and has expressed optimism that it will grow stronger. His departure from the leadership of the party does not change his or COP's commitment to the partnership. However that could change, depending on who emerges on July 3 as Dookeran's successor.
In an interview with JYOTI in November 2010 Dookeran had indicated that he would not contest the 2011 internal election. However he said he would always support the partnership because it is the best political formula for Trinidad and Tobago.
It was his commitment - and the dedication of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other members of the partnership that led to the historic coalition of interests that today governs Trinidad and Tobago.
JAI PARASRAM
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