Khan washes hands of unity talks with Pandays

RICHARDSON DHALAI

BARATARIA/San Juan MP Dr Fuad Khan has washed his hands of unity talks with the Panday family. He says Mickela Panday’s press release on Sunday, in which she quoted him as sayingUNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar did not wish to hold discussions with them, had left him in a “compromising position.”

In a telephone interview yesterday, Khan who has been leading a call for a reconciliation with the Pandays as well as with Vasant Bharath and Jack Warner, said he had nothing more to say on the issue.

“I have no comment on this stupidness again. As far as I am concerned, I don’t think this thing (unity with the Pandays) could take place based on these unnecessary press releases by Mickela Panday without any consultation, and as far as I am concerned, the matter is closed and they could continue on their own merry way,” Khan said.

“My position is very clear, but what Mickela sent out in that release bends it and I think personally Ms Mickela Panday should not have sent out that release without discussing it, and at the end of the day it puts me in a compromising position which is not correct,” he added.

Asked whether the time for unity discussions was not now, he said, “No, now is not the correct time to have any unity with them, Mr Panday and Mickela, not from what I am seeing going on.” Asked about the other people he had identified, a frustrated Khan said, “They could make their own overtures. People should make their own overtures, because Mrs Persad-Bissessar is the leader.

She is the leader by right, and if they have any discussions to take place, they could talk to her.”

Political analyst Dr Bishnu Ragoonath said any party facing a general election some two and a half years away should begin the unification process, but this was done in privacy and not in the public eye.

“Negotiations are always a difficult thing to obtain and when you are negotiating, you have to negotiate in some degree of privacy. Not everything must be done in the open,” he advised.