Moonilal insists that Nationalist slate not supporting Mahabir or any candidate for UNC chairman

Ashwani Mahabir briefing members of his campaign team

Ashwani Mahabir, who is one of two people challenging Jack Warner for the post of chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) in Saturday's internal elections, turned up at a meeting of the Nationalists slate at the Himalaya Club in San Juan on Thursday night.

The Nationalists is led by UNC Deputy Leader Dr Roodal Moonilal and comprises 12 members of the present national executive (NATEX) of the party, who are seeking re-election. They include Moonilal and another deputy leader, Tabaquite MP Suruj Rambachan.

Apart from the incumbents, two influential cabinet ministers - Chandresh Sharma and Glenn Ramadharsingh - are also on the slate.

Warner and Mahabir are running as independents. There is no candidate for chairman on the Nationalists slate. Moonilal has said he did not invite Warner to join the slate because the Chaguanas West MP wanted to run as an independent.

Moonilal has also said his team is not supporting any of the candidates for chairman and has told the UNC membership to vote for the person they believe is best suited to hold the post.

However, the Express newspaper reported Saturday that Mahabir and his supporters attended the Nationalists meeting in San Juan and handed out flyers in which Mahabir is listed as a member of the Nationalists slate.

The Express said Mahabir said he felt that as a member of the UNC he has a right to attend any UNC meeting, adding he did not mean to intrude. The paper said Mahabir explained that he liked what he was hearing from the Nationalists platform and "that is why I invited some of my members to come down."

The paper said that Mahabir claimed that he "never saw the document" but suggested that the slate might support him.

However, Moonilal stood his ground and stated clearly that his team was not supporting Mahabir or any of the other candidates for chairman. He reiterated that UNC members must make their own judgement on that.

Moonilal also made it clear that the flyer was not authorised. "That flyer is misleading. It is not authorised by us and, quite frankly, we condemn that kind of propaganda. It is not authorised by us at all. It is not our flyer," he told the Express.

"That is why on stage I made it abundantly clear that our members and our supporters are free to support any one of the three candidates and that, to me, is a bit of mischief, but it is also a part of politics."

The Express reported that at the end of the meeting Transport Minister Devant Maharaj attempted to introduce Mahabir to Moonilal and that Moonilal shook hands with Mahabir and then walked away.