Sorry folks, no brawling ahead on the Opposition bench.
As Parliament resumes today that was the advisory to the Government from new Opposition Chief Whip Ganga Singh following his appointment, replacing Roodal Moonilal, who stepped down as he challenged Kamla Persad-Bissessar for leadership of the United National Congress (UNC).
The Opposition Leader is also being challenged by former senator Vasant Bharath. She appointed Singh on Wednesday to replace Moonilal. The latter launched his slate last night at Rienzi Complex.
Bharath, who was appointed to the Senate by Persad-Bissessar, resigned Wednesday after UNC’s Youth Arm questioned his continuation on the Senate team if he was contesting the leadership.
His launches his campaign tomorrow. Yesterday, Bharath received support from UNC Women’s Arm head Stacy Roopnarine although the unit’s public relations officer had issued a statement last week supporting Persad-Bissessar.
With Parliament resuming today, Singh said seating on the Opposition bench would be rearranged to accommodate the new situation. Singh who had been seated on the end of the Opposition backbench behind Moonilal, moves to the whip’s traditional seat on the front bench next to Persad-Bissessar.
UNC sources said Moonilal would remain on the Opposition front bench, “high up” the row, close to Persad-Bissessar and Congress of the People leader Prakash Ramadhar.
Singh said he was putting the People’s National Movement (PNM) on notice, “...If they are coming to Parliament to expect any fighting among the Opposition because of our internal elections, well, sorry folks, there isn’t going to be any brawling.
“There ought not to be any major fallout from our polls. At the end of the day, all members participating clearly want a strong, vibrant UNC so I am obliged to tell the PNM: We’re stronger than you think.”
Singh expressed concern about the fact that the PNM while indicating yesterday there were bills on today’s Parliament agenda, declined to say what they were.
“We’ve not been informed of any bills. They are operating in classic PNM non-disclosure style. If there are bills, we know nothing of them. They are not on the Order Paper to date since all that is there are plans to lay reports and selection of committees.
“So there is no public disclosure on bills. We’ll just have to wait to see if there is a supplemental agenda. This modus operandi is certainly not in accordance with the Government’s stated principles of transparency,” he added.