Saturday, September 19 2009

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Basdeo Panday...

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday said he would be open to any new initiative to unite the country’s opposition parties against the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM).

Panday made this comment in response to reports that former PNM and UNC government ministers were contemplating forming a committee to mediate between the UNC and the Congress of the People (COP).

“I have always advocated unity amongst the opposition and I would welcome any initiative in this regard,” Panday said. The UNC leader added that he has not spoken with any of these individuals to date on the issue of unity.

Asked whether Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar was still pursuing the unity initiative which the UNC national executive mandated her to perform, Panday said the COP has not replied to Persad-Bissessar to discuss unity between the two parties.

With the Budget debate in the House of Representatives over, Panday said the party’s executive will meet next week to determine when the UNC national congress will meet.

The congress was supposed to meet at Rienzi Complex in Couva on September 13 but it was postponed due to the budget debate.

The main item for the congress is announcing a date for the UNC’s internal elections.

Renegade MPs Jack Warner, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and Winston “Gypsy” Peters have been referred to the UNC’s disciplinary committee for publicly calling for change in the party and voting with the Government in Parliament on certain bills. Warner has claimed this was an attempt to prevent the trio from contesting the internal polls. He has threatened to sue the party’s national executive if this happens.